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Don’t Fade and Die in AI Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/ Check Out UPX: https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ Matt Yanchyshyn, VP AWS Marketplace, Rekha Thangelapalita, Elastic GSI Leaders; Allison McFadden, Accenture AWS Leader; and James Kang of Nvidia join Ultimate Partner. In this panel discussion, leaders from Elastic, Accenture, Nvidia, and AWS dissect the urgent shifts in the ecosystem, emphasizing that partners must adapt to AI and agentic co-selling or risk fading away completely. The conversation explores the necessity of deep co-engineering, the power of multi-product solutions in the AWS marketplace, and how automated agents are now replacing traditional human sales pipeline progression. By embracing data readiness and strategic collaboration, organizations can survive the “token maxing” era, effectively scale their enterprise opportunities, and align with NVIDIA’s five-layer strategy to dominate the new cloud landscape. https://youtu.be/zUkL4Wqsa68 Key Takeaways AI agents will automate the majority of AWS partner co-selling attachments and opportunity progressions this year. Partners who fail to embrace agentic workflows and automated governance face the existential risk of fading into obsolescence. Successful multi-product offerings require a “blood to all organs” approach that benefits the client, the ISV, the GSI, and the hyperscaler simultaneously. Nvidia’s “five-layer cake” model emphasizes that successful outcomes at the application layer automatically drive growth for all underlying infrastructure. The “token maxing” phenomenon is forcing enterprises to seek cost-effective, open-model alternatives to scale their generative AI securely. Integrating GSIs and ISVs on the AWS marketplace significantly increases enterprise deal sizes and long-term customer renewal rates. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags strategic collaboration agreement, data readiness engine, agentic co-sell, semantic layer, token maxing, five layer cake, accelerated computing platform, open models, cloud consumption, multi-product solutions, partner central agents, propensity data, automated opportunity progression, generative AI governance Transcript Matt Y and Panel Audio Podcast [00:00:00] Vince Menzione: You have a choice. You can embrace them and figure it out and get governance and, and make your data available. Um, use the partner, central agent, move to Agen Co-sell, or you can fade and die. [00:00:11] Vince Menzione: You can feel it happening. The ecosystem is shifting beneath us, the way Hyperscalers are partnering, how AI is remaking the channel and what it means to win in 2026. [00:00:22] Vince Menzione: Welcome to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. I’m Vince Menzi. Own your host. And each week I sit down with leaders at the intersection of technology, partnerships and outcomes. The voices shaping how ecosystems actually work. We talk about what’s real, what’s changing, and what it takes to lead in this era where the partner channel isn’t just part of the strategy. [00:00:44] Vince Menzione: It is the strategy because [00:00:46] Vince Menzione: being in the room changes everything. Let’s start. [00:00:51] Vince Menzione: We’ve got some amazing leaders joining us. So I think probably for a little bit of context, maybe just start with Rika. You can introduce yourself, your role and, uh, what, what you’ve been doing at Elastic. Yeah. [00:01:03] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah, sounds great. [00:01:04] Rekha Thangellapalli: Hi everyone. I’m Reka and I lead GSI Alliances at Elastic. Um, for the past 14 years, I’ve had the pleasure of building different kinds of partner ecosystems across companies such as SAP. MuleSoft, Salesforce, Coupa, and now Elastic. Um, I wanna thank Ultimate partner and Vince for having us here today. Thank you and the panel of these incredible speakers for joining me on stage. [00:01:31] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, very excited for the conversation today. [00:01:33] Vince Menzione: We love Elastic, and you’ve had some of your other leaders on stage at other events. As such, the quality of your leadership team is amazing. Thank you. [00:01:42] Rekha Thangellapalli: I wholeheartedly agree. [00:01:45] Allison McFadden: Excellent. Um, hello everyone. Allison McFadden. I lead our North America AWS practice at Accenture. [00:01:52] Allison McFadden: Uh, I’ve been there for five years, and truth be told, it was my first partnership role, my first formal partnership role. Uh, so I can take some tips from all of you in the room here today. Prior to that, I was 21 years with IBM, and I got into partnerships because my last role at IBM was actually trying to build. [00:02:14] Allison McFadden: Linux business on the mainframe, and I had to have partners. I had to have partners to help me with workloads to run there. So I kind of learned, uh, trial by fire. But I’m excited for the conversation today. Excited to be in this room and excited to talk about what we’re doing with, uh, elastic. Thank you. [00:02:34] James Kang: Uh, my name is James Kang. Nice to see and meet everyone here. Vince, thank you for the opportunity. Thank you [00:02:38] Vince Menzione: for being here. [00:02:39] James Kang: Um, I’m with Nvidia, so I help manage the AWS partnership at Nvidia all up. Um, I guess fun fact, I’m former AWS and so I see a lot of very familiar faces here in the front row. Uh, former colleagues and then current friends. [00:02:56] James Kang: And so, uh, looking forward to the conversation. [00:02:59] Vince Menzione: Great. Well, we’ll start with an easy tia. Matt. This is not directed to you, directed to the others. So what does a successful AWS partnership look like from your C? So we’ll start with Eureka. [00:03:09] Rekha Thangellapalli: Sure. So from an ISV perspective, I think we really are looking at three things. [00:03:15] Rekha Thangellapalli: Uh, mutual investment building together. And scaling together. So when we talk about mutual investment, elastic recently signed a five-year SCA or strategic collaboration agreement with AWS. And while that is a significant milestone in our partnership, for us, what matters more is what it represents, and that is really a long-term commitment from both companies. [00:03:39] Rekha Thangellapalli: Towards product engineering, um, and joint go to market initiatives to deliver value to customers over time. And that’s what we see is that the best partnerships really compound and they build upon each other every year. Um, they don’t necessarily kind of reset every year. Um, next we talk about building together. [00:03:59] Rekha Thangellapalli: So, um. When we talk about joint solutions, we want to deliver solutions that are better together and the customers have to see us that way. And so whether it’s search, observability, or security, we’re looking at taking to market solutions that we can’t or necessarily don’t wanna take on our own. And finally we talk about scaling together. [00:04:22] Rekha Thangellapalli: And this is where marketplace, for instance, plays a big role, um, when customers can draw down on their cloud commitments, transact online and go from, you know, pilot to enterprise scale adoption in hours, not days. Um, this is when really everyone wins. Um, and this is also where partners like Accenture play a critical role. [00:04:47] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, you know, the incredible amount of expertise that they bring, uh, the managed services capabilities and, um, their data assets actually play a huge role in having our customers realize that value faster. And, um, like Vince mentioned, at the end of the day, best partnerships are all all about creating kind of that. [00:05:07] Rekha Thangellapalli: Self-sustaining flywheel. And so it starts with investing together, building something unique, and having the customers realize that success faster because that success is really the only thing that’s gonna keep that flywheel going for everyone involved. I [00:05:26] Vince Menzione: absolutely. [00:05:26] Allison McFadden: Okay, amazing. I’m gonna riff off a few things Ika said, but from a GSI perspective. [00:05:32] Allison McFadden: A relationship with a WSA successful relationship with AWS looks slightly different. Um, so I think the first thing that we think of in the GSI Community common thread is that the client outcome and delivering value for clients is what we, what we’re striving for. Um, and so the partnership with AWS in that case, um, um, it has to, it has to. [00:06:01] Allison McFadden: Look like one team in front of our clients. So we have to show up indistinguishable, and that’s with AWS and with an ISV partner, it has to look like one solution in front of the client, especially moments that matter. So board meetings, um, you know, the time we’re gonna sign a deal, like we have to look like one team, uh, and keep our our client outcome, um, first and foremost in mind. [00:06:24] Allison McFadden: The second thing, and this is I think where the magic of all the people in this room comes into play. We can have as many discussions at a CEO level as we want. And if our client teams on the ground are not working together, it falls apart. Falls apart directly in front of the client. Yes. And that is a really hard thing to do. [00:06:45] Allison McFadden: So I’m passionate about the alliance work because that that work is what makes it happen at the corporate level. [00:06:53] James Kang: Cool. Um. I’ll start here. So in Nvidia is a accelerated computing platform company. Um, if you asked. Anyone on the, on the street about a year ago, what is ai? A lot of times they would say AI is, is open ai, or it’s philanthropic. [00:07:12] James Kang: Um, Jensen and I’ll, I’ll reference Jensen a lot today, um, because he is our leader, um, but he also sets the strategy in the direction for Nvidia. He talks a lot about AI in the metaphor of a five layer cake. And in terms of the five layer cake, you start off with the foundational bottom layer being power and energy, which sustains. [00:07:32] James Kang: All of our data centers, you move up the stack in terms of chips. So things think of Foxconn, think of TSMC. Next you have the infrastructure layer. So obvious choice is AWS, and then you get to the models where you do have the philanthropics and the open ais. But finally in at the precipice, you have the application layer. [00:07:53] James Kang: Ultimately, the reason why I mentioned all different stacks of the layers, the five layer cake, is the fact that the application layer is the most important. And so when you think about. Partners like Elastic or ServiceNow Trend, ai, CrowdStrike. Every time you pull from the application layer and you see a success, it pulls all five different components of that layer up. [00:08:13] James Kang: And so ultimately, as I think about success, it’s it’s being able to develop these co-sell wins at the application layer and really demonstrating that through extreme co-engineering and co-design with all the different application. Infrastructure, power and energy layers in mind. Um, Jensen also likes to think of himself not only as the CEO and founder, but also as the, the chief Marketing Officer. [00:08:35] James Kang: We are a very event driven company, and so at our big events like GTC or at big industry events like CES or Computex, he likes to show up on the biggest stage, biggest stages and showcase the partnerships with not only ISVs and GSIs, but also with end customers. And so that’s what I think about when I think of SA success. [00:08:56] Vince Menzione: That’s a really good point. You talked about, Allison, you talked about having an alliance strategy, or at least you teed it up, so I thought maybe we would go there for a second. Right? Like, what does a great alliance strategy look like and why is it important to the success of the partnership? [00:09:11] Allison McFadden: Man, I, uh, I have so many opinions on this. [00:09:13] Allison McFadden: We could probably be up here all day. That’s [00:09:15] Vince Menzione: okay. [00:09:16] Allison McFadden: Um, no, I think. Uh, there, there are a couple things, and the first one that comes to mind is focus. We cannot be all things to all people. Um, so when it comes to think about some of the, the work we’re doing with Elastic, we have a very, very clear point of view on what client problem we’re solving, what clients we want to talk to. [00:09:38] Allison McFadden: It helps if, um, from an ISV perspective, if there’s a very clear fit in. The Accenture portfolio or whatever, you know, SI consulting partner. You’re working with a very clear fit in the portfolio and we know what we’re not gonna go after, what we’re not gonna spend our time on because we have, we have this tendency, there’s millions of people. [00:10:00] Allison McFadden: The ecosystem chart that, you know, Vince, you showed up there, there’s so many connections. There’s probably more connections there than there are atoms in the universe, right? So, um. Defining what we do together and what we don’t do together is the first thing that pops to my mind. [00:10:19] Vince Menzione: Reka, do you have a perspective on it since we’re gonna, we’re gonna talk next about what you’ve done together, but, and I also wanna get mass perspective as a hyperscaler partner here as well. [00:10:29] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah, I mean from my perspective, I, I’m gonna, you know, kinda echo what Allison said is to be just maniacally focused. Yep. Um, because, especially from my perspective, so Elastic has three different solutions, right? We’ve got search, we’ve got observability, we’ve got security that map to completely different business units within Accenture. [00:10:47] Rekha Thangellapalli: And of course Accenture does a lot of things. And so, you know, when we first came together it was like. Okay, what are we gonna focus on? What industries are we gonna go after? Which segments are we gonna go after? Which customers, you know, um, outcomes are we trying to solve? And I think that sort of maniacal focus is the number one contributing factor to, to the fact that I’m like, up here on stage today. [00:11:12] Rekha Thangellapalli: Great. [00:11:14] Vince Menzione: Matt? Perspective? [00:11:16] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah, I, I, I guess I was trying to. To add something, uh, additional from an AWS perspective, uh, when it comes to, you know, what does a great alliance look like? Uh, AWS is obsessed with data, you know, in data we trust. And, and so the best, um, and, and this goes sales business problem, and it’s not just the engineering teams. [00:11:34] Matt Yanchyshyn: And so, uh, you know, Accenture does a good job of this elastic, definitely. And if you can come to the table with, um, quantifiable proof of the value of customer outcomes and partnerships. Um, you’ll win all the time and it’ll be a durable relationship with AWS ’cause we really are this data obsessed company and, and even the most senior sales leaders. [00:11:54] Matt Yanchyshyn: Uh, and so what I mean by that specifically is like if you, if you can show like your a RR to land an a RR conversion ratio, like in in numerical format, it’ll light up our sales leaders and, and they’ll be all, and they will co-sell with you all day long. If you can show the, I mentioned this earlier, like the AWS service, uh, whether you’re consulting company or, um, elastic and, and how the shape of customer accounts change positively when we work together. [00:12:15] Matt Yanchyshyn: That type of sort of quantifiable data works particularly well from an alliance perspective. With AWS as a partner, we, we really are like this data in sort of results out company. Um, so I, yeah, that’s just adding to the great points that were already made. I would say specific to AWS that that’s key. [00:12:30] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah. And I’m gonna bring up one more thing. I want to dive in on the, the joint value proposition, but you mentioned something that made a lot of sense and resonated to me about the organizations once you get out of partner, the partner world that we all know and love. Mm-hmm. Once you get down into a field organization or account management organization. [00:12:49] Matt Yanchyshyn: Not as much understanding and really organizations do a bad job here, honestly, in terms of enabling the field organizations. Do you agree? [00:12:58] Allison McFadden: I agree because I, I agree. And, um, you know, I think that’s one of the things, and, and I, I, when I joined Accenture, what we had was a lot of wicked smart architects delivering programs to clients in the field. [00:13:15] Allison McFadden: Very smart, very deep in AWS knowledge. Um, and that was awesome for the 10 clients they were staffed on and to get that understanding of how AWS works and I dream about lar, right? Like, this is a good, you know, but that takes real effort and real work. Yeah. And it’s, it’s um, almost like being a language translator. [00:13:37] Allison McFadden: Yes. For me. Yeah. So, you know, I had to deeply learn AWS so that I could. [00:13:42] Rekha Thangellapalli: Sure. [00:13:42] Allison McFadden: Teach my account teams. My account teams are really smart. They know who they’re selling to. They know their customers. They know what their customers need. They do not know what AWS has to offer always because they’ve got 20 partners lining up to try to tell their stories. [00:13:57] Allison McFadden: Um, they don’t know how to ask of the AWS team or the elastic team or the Nvidia team. Yeah. What they need [00:14:02] Vince Menzione: this co-selling piece. Yeah. [00:14:04] Allison McFadden: And so that is where, um. We had to build that muscle even around our AWS practice, which was a huge practice at Accenture, but we didn’t necessarily surround it with that kind of enablement and um, almost deal coaching layer. [00:14:21] Vince Menzione: So Elastic and Accenture came together. I dunno which one of you wants to lead this part of the conversation, but you will, right? Yeah. So tell us about the genesis of this and why. And a lot of people dunno what Elastic does, but you do some really incredible work. Like I, somebody told me one day was like, oh, you know, Uber, like, that’s elastic, powering all that. [00:14:41] Vince Menzione: Like, we don’t think about that. That the engines that you have and the, the backend to the customers, huge customers. [00:14:48] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah, absolutely. Um, so when AWS launched this feature last, um, reinvent where basically it allowed, you know, channel partners such as Accenture to be able to bundle up their services, their data assets with an ISV solution and put it on marketplace, um, you know, Accenture and Elastic immediately saw an opportunity. [00:15:09] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, at the time most customers were doing gen ai. But they were running into the same challenge, which was that their data just was not ready. And by the way, this is a problem we were solving. Outside of marketplace. I think the, the feature that you guys launched just gave us a way to package it up and to be able to create this repeatable solution, which we call data readiness engine for gen ai and put it on marketplace. [00:15:40] Rekha Thangellapalli: And, um, this to me was a success because. Each company had a clear reason to invest. Um, so for Accenture, they were able to, you know, create a very differentiated services led offering. Uh, for Elastic, we were able to expand on our AI story. And for AWS, um, you know, it drives marketplace adoption, increases cloud consumption, all of that great stuff. [00:16:07] Rekha Thangellapalli: And customers, of course get. A solution to a very real problem that, that they were having. Um, and you know, the surprising part for me going through that journey was that, um. The pitching, the idea, getting the budget, getting the executive sponsorship was actually the easy part. The hard part was getting all three companies to come together, uh, to go from idea to launch in a very ambitious timeline of six weeks. [00:16:37] Rekha Thangellapalli: Nice. And so, you know, this was very much like. Doesn’t matter your title. We’re rolling up our sleeves and we are on this outcome together. Um, and so we literally built a RACI matrix, a project plan, and you know, we had daily standup calls for six weeks where literally. At least one person from each three of these companies called in, you know, got rid of any blockers and we made sure we were on target for that timeline. [00:17:07] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, and you know, at the end we had a successful launch. But I think my favorite part about the story is the impact that we’re having and, um. My favorite story comes from a global pharmaceutical company that, you know, had basically nine petabytes of data spread across six different continents. Wow. And by working with Accenture and Elastic, they were able to build that trusted foundation that their AI and their agents can, you know, kind of safely tap into and be accessible at scale. [00:17:41] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, so that’s my version. Allison. [00:17:44] Allison McFadden: Yeah. Well, I don’t have a lot to add. I just, I would say this is a good example of a couple of principles, right? One is having a forcing function is never a bad idea. Sign up for a big event, sign up. I’m like, I’m here with my, you know, Nvidia guys saying, sign up for the event. [00:17:58] Allison McFadden: It’ll make you move quick, right? [00:18:00] Audience Member: Yes. [00:18:00] Allison McFadden: Um, so that is one, but two, one of my mentors once told me, when you’re designing any kind of, you know, offering go to market motion, it has to get blood to all organs. If it does not get blood to all organs, it does not go [00:18:14] Vince Menzione: nice. [00:18:14] Allison McFadden: Um, [00:18:14] Vince Menzione: I love that analogy. [00:18:15] Allison McFadden: Oh, I love it. And I can talk all day. [00:18:17] Allison McFadden: That guy was brilliant. I love him. But, um, no, and, and so Elastic did a really nice job of bringing the tech to the table. Um, our team has to trust in that technology and its ability to scale, right? Um, because at Accenture we have to be able to deploy across 700,000 consultants. Um. And yeah, so I think those are the two, two things that really worked well here is we had, uh, trust in the technology solved a customer need. [00:18:50] Allison McFadden: Um, it drives, we don’t even talk about, like, yes, it drives marketplace revenue, but it unlocks work that we do that drives even more revenue to our AWS Friends. Right. So this is a, this is a, um, product that’s getting your data ready for AG agentic. It’s a messy problem that everyone’s dealing with, and it removes blockers for clients and it unlocks more, you know, ag agentic work on top of that. [00:19:15] Allison McFadden: So, blood to all organs. [00:19:17] Vince Menzione: So, was that the proposal going forward to say we need to have, we need to have trust in the solution. We need to drive significant revenue. It needs to be something all of our, you know, seven, 700,000 people. Can be a part of and help drive? Is that how you think about? [00:19:32] Allison McFadden: Yeah, and for us right now, um, it’s an interesting time for Accenture. [00:19:36] Allison McFadden: Our clients are asking a lot of us, and what it does is it having some of these accelerators helps us deliver cheaper, better, faster to our clients, which is what they’re demanding of us right now. Um, so it’s an accelerator to client outcomes. [00:19:55] Vince Menzione: James, what is NVIDIA’s role and how do, how do you enter the equation here? [00:20:00] James Kang: Yeah, it’s, um, it’s a good question. Um, I, I would say that Nvidia is probably one of the most misunderstood organizations in the world. Um, despite the, uh, the market capitalization in the valuation of the company, we have a very tiny organization. Um, what I mean by that is, um, if you think about. [00:20:20] James Kang: Salesforces and field sales organizations. Um, we’ll take Salesforce as the account or the customer. As an example, we have one account manager at NVIDIA that no, not only covers and is responsible for the relationship with Salesforce, um, but also manages. Automation Anywhere as well as DocuSign. Whereas at AWS, in contrast, like there are full armies and teams Yeah. [00:20:45] James Kang: That are supporting the Salesforce relationship. And so as you think about partnering and working with Nvidia, the focus has to be on really. Extreme co-design, but also being very prescriptive in terms of what are the very specific customer outcomes that we are solving for. And the guidance that I would give is bring in Nvidia into that equation and that conversation as early as possible because that [00:21:10] James Kang: co-engineering and co-design needs to be part of the foundational building blocks in order for you to come out with a end solution that checks all those different requirements. [00:21:20] James Kang: And so I think. Again, like going back to Nvidia, um, we like to talk about two different types of brains. A brain one and a brain two. Uh, brain One you think about the next quarter and making sure that you’re hitting the revenue targets for the next quarter. Brain two, you think about a long-term goals and potentials looking around corners and being very strategic. [00:21:41] James Kang: The saying internally is without Brain one, there is no oxygen, but without brain two, there is no future. And everyone at NVIDIA is trained to think in that brain two mentality. [00:21:52] Vince Menzione: Wow, Matt. [00:21:54] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah, I, I was just thinking I love the blood doll organs. Uh, and so just on, on that note, um, and, and, you know, the multi-product solutions that, that you, you built together, uh, that is a really good example of blood do organs because like we all know, that’s how customers buy. [00:22:07] Matt Yanchyshyn: They, they buy solutions and increasingly they’re looking for combinations of ISV, sometimes multiple products from multiple ISVs with services. Uh, often they’re buying it through a resell motion. You know, and they, and, and so that from a customer perspective, they want a single place to go. And so that’s the multi-product solution. [00:22:24] Matt Yanchyshyn: They wanna find everything they need, they need Accenture, they need Elastic to solve a specific solution. And I think where that’s headed is even more specific listings, like with AI powered listing experience, like, you know, elastic Plus Accenture for, I’ll make something up like a manufacturing workload. [00:22:37] Matt Yanchyshyn: And so this solution based. Uh, sort of buying is, is very customer centric. It’s what customers want. We all know that. But that’s, that’s the customer sort of organ, I guess. Um, but then, you know, you all have SCAs and those SCAs have marketplace commits. It helps if that gets transacted through marketplace helps the AWS relationship, you know that that’s an organ. [00:22:55] Matt Yanchyshyn: It’s the relationship. It’s, it’s the commercial construct and that you have, uh, that that’s another organ. You’re marketing people. They, that’s another organ. They don’t wanna land, uh, leads on a static marketing page. They wanna land a lead on a, a storefront with a multi-product solution that can actually convert and that you can actually buy it through that. [00:23:12] Matt Yanchyshyn: So the marketing person’s happy because they, they have less churn. Uh, and then, you know, our reps are happy ’cause guess how they get paid? They retire quota when they sell Marketplace. And they, we also, Jay McMain will tell you, that’s another organ called Jay or on, on you now. Um, [00:23:27] Matt Yanchyshyn: he’ll like that. I’ll call him up and tell him that. [00:23:29] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah, [00:23:30] Matt Yanchyshyn: but he, he’ll tell you, you know, don’t believe me. Obviously, never believe Matt, believe, believe the, the data and, and his data shows that. Those deals will close faster and larger if you use marketplace. So that’s, that’s a lot of organs. That’s the whole body. Um, but you know, when you have your customer happy ’cause that’s how they wanna buy your field happy. [00:23:45] Matt Yanchyshyn: Um, and, you know, the relationship happy and you know, your marketing team happy. Uh, and, and Jay happy. Um, and, and you know, I think that multi-product construct and, and the way you kind of use it to model a partnership and the way buyers ultimately wanna buy is, is really powerful. And so I, I think it’s, you know, it’s really a manifestation of how. [00:24:04] Matt Yanchyshyn: We kind of intend and to go to market anyway. Uh, so I think, you know, and thanks for leading the way, by the way. You’re, you’re amongst the very first, so that’s great to see. [00:24:11] Matt Yanchyshyn: So these storefronts are really helping this drive, drive this. Well, [00:24:13] Matt Yanchyshyn: that’s the next evolution. Like we’re talking about the multiproduct solution. [00:24:16] Allison McFadden: I’m JJ Accenture storefront. [00:24:17] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Oh, there you go. I mean, j and j Accenture storefront. [00:24:20] Allison McFadden: We’re gonna talk about that. [00:24:20] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah. I mean, [00:24:21] Matt Yanchyshyn: Accenture also leading the way yet again with storefronts. And so I think the combination of. You know, again, I was talking a lot about conversion. Yeah. And you know, buyers know sometimes they know what they wanna buy and, but if you really wanna convert that lead, you wanna land them again, something that combines, you know, elastic Accenture’s services plus software, but in a storefront that is, you know, surrounding with just the solutions they want so they don’t need to kind of go searching. [00:24:42] Matt Yanchyshyn: So, you know, ultimately reducing that time to close, I guess, really ’cause meeting the customer where they are with what they need. [00:24:51] Matt Yanchyshyn: So we talk about co-selling a little bit. We, Jay and I talk about this all the time. We gotta keep looping Jay in here, even though he is not even in town this week, but Reko, um, what does co-sell look like inside Elastic? [00:25:02] Matt Yanchyshyn: You’ve got, we talked about an incredible leadership team. I’ve gotten meet some of your leaders. Seems like you drive, you do a good job internally driving that. Let’s talk a little bit about it. [00:25:11] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah, and this is something I’m, I’m personally very passionate about. Um, co-sell is. Very much a journey, not a destination. [00:25:20] Rekha Thangellapalli: And I think step one for us is recognizing the different partner types that we have. Because at Elastic we work with, you know, OEMs, MSPs, resale distributors, GSIs, um, and they all bring something very unique. To the customer lifecycle and they all contribute very differently within, you know, our own sales cycle and sales process. [00:25:45] Rekha Thangellapalli: And so, you know, figuring out what is the unique benefit they bring, how do we enable them? So training and enablement is a huge piece of it, and so is making sure we’ve got the right metrics to measure success. Um, I know a lot of companies look at partner sourced as the north star, and that’s great, right? [00:26:06] Rekha Thangellapalli: Because that is undeniable. You can say, Hey, that would not exist if it wasn’t for my partner team. Um, but we’ve also noticed that when we bring in GSIs, it actually increases renewal rates. It significantly increases. Um, a RR over time. Um, it expands deal sizes and so these are very real metrics that we can point to, um, beyond just the co-sell and the partner sourced number. [00:26:32] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, so for us it’s looking at it from a very holistic perspective, but also catering it towards that unique partner and making sure we’re doing everything we can to set them up for success and setting up the partnership for success. [00:26:47] Vince Menzione: So clo close win ratios, deal size and renewal rates? [00:26:52] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yes. For specifically for geos size. [00:26:54] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah. [00:26:55] Vince Menzione: Very interesting. Allison, uh, what had to change internally to produce these co-selling? We talked a little bit about the field organization and enabling a, a group of, and, you know, account sellers that are very customer focused and enabling them on the co-sell side. What had to change internally to drive that? [00:27:13] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:27:14] Allison McFadden: I, I might have already alluded to this a little bit in a previous answer, but, um, creating the capacity to develop, build, and sell these solutions, um, inside of a large GSI, where billable hours is kind of the number one metric on the table. Um. Is part of the investment that we had to make within Accenture to get this done? [00:27:36] Audience Member: Yeah, [00:27:36] Allison McFadden: so expert technology time. So we have technologists that understand the elastic technology. We do similar with Nvidia, by the way, we. We released some of their time to go co-develop the solution because it has to hold technical water, right? It can’t just be a marketing pitch. It can’t just be, it has to be a real, um, what’s the there, there. [00:27:59] Allison McFadden: So in order to actually do proper co-sell, we had to release some of that time. Um, to invest in those partnerships. Um, we’ve also done similar with some industry aligned business development leaders recently, so we have freed their time up to go. Uh. Open new conversations, educate client, account teams, go to clients, have conversations. [00:28:26] Allison McFadden: Um, so that, that’s a new motion that we, uh, have just kind of recently made, um, to allow them, I love this brain one, brain two also, right? So to allow them to focus on brain two, because a lot of our time. Typically spent delivery issues, you know, getting my hours, where am I charging my time? And so just freeing up a little of that capacity to do this work, um, helps get us in this brain two mode where we’re not just living to survive. [00:28:56] Vince Menzione: I. So, Matt, you’ve removed a lot. I mean, one of the things I admire, I admire AWS for being first to market and removing the most friction in marketplace of any of the vendors. Really, truly that. You talked about some of the announcements. How does some of, how does some of this tie PC central agents propensity sales plays, MCP, how does some of this tie to how, how you’re thinking about the future? [00:29:18] Vince Menzione: And how to enable more motions like this. [00:29:20] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah. Well, I, I think if you know my boss, UBA Borno, uh, you’ll know that she has a maniacal focus on automation. Yeah. Um, and, uh, co-sell is increasingly automated. You know, you were asking earlier about propensity data. You can get that propensity data in addition to sales plays and, uh, opportunity scores through the partner central agents. [00:29:38] Matt Yanchyshyn: So things that used to require multiple calls to A PDM, if you’re lucky to have one. Yeah. Or a p sm. Uh, you, you can now get through, through these agents, you know, uh, tech Systems, TGS, they, they manage what, over 5,500 customer opportunities with agents that they built on top of our partner Central APIs. [00:29:55] Matt Yanchyshyn: Um, and work Span has built a whole product and business that’s right on leveraging, uh, our APIs, our capabilities to sort of tie into your CRM. So, majority of all opportunities will be progressed and managed by agents. This year at AWS, we already have a majority of all customer opportunities, all app have a partner attached and I, I took a personal goal for a majority of those partner attachments, not to happen from a human. [00:30:22] Matt Yanchyshyn: But from our solution matching engine. And how do you get recommended by that solution? Matching engine, having a healthy ACE pipeline, thanks to partner central agents and the integrations you’re doing. And in addition to being the specializations and doing things like multi-product solutions and ultimately closing opportunities, you dream of LAR and so LAR will help that. [00:30:40] Allison McFadden: It’s more like a nightmare. [00:30:41] Vince Menzione: And so, you know, [00:30:42] Allison McFadden: it’s more like a nightmare, but [00:30:44] Vince Menzione: nightmare. Well, it’s, it’s, yeah. Nightmare of Laura and, and. Nice dreams of PRM, but the, um, but that’s the loop, right? I, I think, uh, increasingly co-sell for us, and in my mind, is largely a hundred percent automated. Yeah. Except for what matters most, those most largest, most strategic, most complex deals. [00:31:01] Vince Menzione: Where our highly paid and very skilled salespeople are most effectively used. [00:31:05] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:31:05] Vince Menzione: You know, the days of, you know, this person with 20 years experience selling, clicking, progressing opportunities through a pipeline, uh, should be over. Uh, and, and we need those people out, out selling and, and co-selling. And so that for me. [00:31:19] Vince Menzione: Yeah. That, you know, we talk a lot about co-sell, but I, I’m obsessed with automating as much of the co-sell as possible. [00:31:24] Vince Menzione: I remember going back to the ex Excel spreadsheets and, and that, that seems to be be Viva became spreadsheet jockeys. [00:31:31] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:31:32] Vince Menzione: And, and they stopped selling. They forgot how to sell. [00:31:34] Vince Menzione: Yeah. And people spend all this time doing lunch and learns and things like that. [00:31:36] Vince Menzione: And then, you know. Then the salespeople rotate out after 18 months and, and it, that’s, that’s the old days. Uh, you know, the new days are, are AI powered matching algorithms, uh, ag agentic co-sell, using the partner essential agents to get your data and, and putting that data to use automatically and, and what sounded like magic. [00:31:51] Vince Menzione: 12 months ago is being done, you know, by partners at massive scale across thousands of opportunities. You can do it today. And you know, I, there’s a guy named another Mike, right? Mike another Mike who they have, there’s like a guy who’s doing all this and I’m picking on Mike ’cause I, I know their system really well and I know the guy Mike grew easily built it for them. [00:32:08] Vince Menzione: Um, but, you know, I think, yeah, again, in the days of having 10 people sort of doing lunch and learn could be replaced by one or two people, building agents, uh, managing a massive pipeline. And, and that’s the future. [00:32:18] Vince Menzione: Exactly. James, your perspective on what breaks with co-selling? [00:32:22] James Kang: Oh, what breaks co-sell? Um, I would say. [00:32:25] James Kang: It, it starts and finishes with just misalignment and a loss of trust with the customer, especially when you have multiple partners or stakeholders involved. If you’re trying to do a three-way deal with a end customer and you’re not on the same page, you’re not gonna get to a successful outcome on, on the backend. [00:32:44] James Kang: Uh, the fix is a much more complicated story. I would say that to take a step back, um. We’ve talked about the five layer cake. We’ve talked about where NVIDIA kind of fits within the equation. We are invested in the ecosystem and so as different players and application organizations win and see these outcomes for end customers, we celebrate that success. [00:33:07] James Kang: Um, and as part of that kind of ethos of where NVIDIA fits within the ecosystem, we wanna make sure that not only. Our customers, but our partners like ISVs and GSIs are set up for success. Um, we do not as Nvidia sell hardware or GPUs directly to customers We use. Hyperscalers like AWS as kind of our force multiplier. [00:33:31] James Kang: And similarly we think of ISVs and GSIs as the force multipliers in terms of our extensions of how we, we kind of leverage the relationships and build the trust with our end customers. And so going back to kind of the question, Vince, I would say that it all comes back to trust and being able to build that mutual trust. [00:33:48] James Kang: Um, a lot of what we do when we co-sell with AWS is really on the software layer. Um, we actually have more software engineers at NVIDIA than we have hardware engineers, which is a weird thing to say, um, because everyone knows us for our GPUs. But because of that fact, we are heavily invested in Cuda and making sure that Cuda becomes the foundational layer for how not only our ISVs and GSIs, but also our end customers are building. [00:34:12] Vince Menzione: Very cool. So Reiki, you and James together on this production. Versus pilot with the Gentech ai. Tell us a little bit more about that. Where, where are you in the process? [00:34:24] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah. So I mean, in general, what we’re seeing out in the market in, in relation to sort of AI and, and customer’s journeys is that, um, at least from an elastic perspective, um, we’re seeing people very much in production when it comes to, you know, kind of AI assistant co-pilot use cases. [00:34:42] Rekha Thangellapalli: So, you know, things like, um, software development, customer support is a big one. Um, any sort of employee productivity use cases where there’s. Still a human in the loop somewhere. Um, and there’s a very like, clear path to value. And so we see the customers being in production excelling there. Um, no problem. [00:35:01] Rekha Thangellapalli: Where we’re seeing people still kind of in the pilot phase is those fully autonomous workflows where there is no human involved. The agent is reasoning on its own. Um, accessing multiple systems and taking an action on the user’s behalf. And what we’re seeing is that it’s not the intelligence of the agent that’s holding it back. [00:35:26] Rekha Thangellapalli: It’s more about giving the right context to the agent and having the right. Security kind of governance controls in place for the company to feel comfortable in putting these fully autonomous workflows into production. And that’s really the conversation we’re having is all right, what are the controls you need in place? [00:35:47] Rekha Thangellapalli: For you to release this to your business unit. Um, and what is the context that the agent is needed before we can comfortably let the agent make the decision on the user’s behalf? Um, James, I’d be interested to hear what you’re, what you’re seeing in the market [00:36:03] James Kang: plus one on all things context. I, I would even go so far as to say, um. [00:36:09] James Kang: H how many folks in the audience have heard of token maxing? Like this new term? [00:36:13] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah. Yeah. [00:36:14] James Kang: Um, I’ll, I’ll give a very specific example of, of Uber that went public. With the example of Claude, like they allowed all of their employees to use as many tokens as possible, and within the span of four months, they exhausted their full budget for the year, and so they had to pull back, and now there’s a cap on every employee. [00:36:33] James Kang: I think the number that’s circulating is $1,500 per month per employee, and so I think that is at least. In this multi-phase evolution of where we’re going to be and where we’re today, cost has become kind of the prohibitive force in terms of agentic AI at scale. Um, I think we are working on some very creative solutions in-house and Nvidia. [00:36:55] James Kang: Um. And we saw some really dynamic announcements this week when it comes to all things agent core, um, where we want to focus on very nimble ways for customers to be able to execute and go to market. And one extreme example of that is our investment within our open model strategy. So Nvidia, not only, again, providing GPUs, we actually offer our own op open models, which we call our Nitron models. [00:37:21] James Kang: And through our Nitron models, we are allowing customers to really develop and fine tune their own proprietary models in a cost effective manner. So right alongside the frontier models like OpenAI and Anthropic. It’s not a if then, it’s not an either or statement. It’s a, it’s a permutation, it’s an and So we’re giving you a cost effective alternative to not only bring your AgTech applications at scale by training on Nibo tron, which is open source, but then once you’ve kind of finished and fine tuned that specific training job to be able to. [00:37:53] James Kang: Go ahead and utilize your frontier models, whether it be OpenAI or Claude. And I know there’s other partners here that are providing those kind of different model capabilities. And so I think for us it’s, it’s a matter of choice. We know that this market is dynamic. It’s gonna be evolving over the next coming months as well as the next coming years. [00:38:10] James Kang: Uh, but we believe that we are positioned for a really unique dynamic expansion of AgTech use cases over the, at least the next three to six months. [00:38:20] Vince Menzione: Allison, for the partners in the room who are glazed over right now going, what do I, what do I do over the next 12 months? [00:38:26] Allison McFadden: Should I wake everybody up by saying, yeah, please. [00:38:27] Allison McFadden: Say go hurricanes. [00:38:28] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:38:29] Allison McFadden: Is there anyone, anybody? Everyone’s like, boo. I get to leave the parade today to go home to parade. I live in Raleigh, so we’ve got our parade on Saturday. Nice. [00:38:39] Vince Menzione: Nice. [00:38:40] Allison McFadden: All right. Wake up. Um, all right. So for the $50 million partners in the room, um. $50 million is not small. You have something that works. [00:38:50] Allison McFadden: Right. This is great. What I would be thinking about is, you know, we’ve talked about focus before, but really doubling down on, you know, what is, what is your industry, what is your client like, ideal client that you serve. And build, um, almost that kind of community. You know, the, the clients we have move from firm to firm to firm. [00:39:17] Allison McFadden: And if you’ve done good work at one, you’re gonna follow ’em to the next. Um, so build that client demand in a specific place or specific client profile that is just like really knocking it out out of the park for you. Um. Scale with marketplace, right? So if you, I, I love some of the data that you were sharing in your talk earlier, um, because it’s like no overhead scaling mechanism. [00:39:45] Allison McFadden: I mean, it’s, it’s fantastic. Um, Accenture, other GSIs like us, we are investing in marketplace. So we’re investing in resources, um, to help us. Use marketplace more with our clients and we’re gonna capture, right, those storefronts. And if you’re present on marketplace, you’re gonna be able to catch, uh, yourself in that wheel. [00:40:09] Allison McFadden: So I think those are the, the kind of couple of things I would say is focus, focus, focus to drive that client demand and use scaling mechanisms like marketplace to really kind of, uh, accelerate. [00:40:24] Vince Menzione: Matt, anything to add there on the. [00:40:26] Vince Menzione: Well just, you know, Ja, James, you, I love the token maxing reference in Uber and it reminds me, you remember when cloud came out and everyone was like, oh, all these people are, are gonna use the cloud and costs are outta control and. [00:40:39] Vince Menzione: Um, a lot of people pulled back from the cloud and, and a lot of those companies no longer exist. And it’s similar with, with, uh, token maxing, like, oh, these agents are outta control. You have a choice. You can embrace them and figure it out and get governance and, and make your data available. Um, use the partner, central agent, move to agent to co-sell, or you can fade and die. [00:40:58] Vince Menzione: And, and that’s, that’s where we’re at. Uh, is, is the, the companies sitting here today embraced the cloud years ago and won. Uh, and and there’s a set of companies here today who are gonna embrace agents in the, for both buyers and sellers, and will win. And there are those who won’t and they won’t win. And so for me, it’s like we’re, we’re at a, we’re at a crossroads. [00:41:18] Vince Menzione: And, and if you’re gonna win, you gotta leap into that, you know? I love it. And, uh, and, and, and it’s, it means the cost of experimentation is so much lower now. Development and, and even business development or software development is, is agent enabled. And so you can take risks, you can experiment and, and you have to, it’s, it’s an existential moment. [00:41:37] Vince Menzione: Agreed. We’ve got a couple minutes left over for any questions. What do you think? Sure. Are there any here. I think there are a couple. Yeah, we’ve got, we’ve got a co-sell question I’m sure coming up here. [00:41:51] Audience Member: Um, I’m Cassandra, I’m the CEO of Partner Tap. And one of the questions I had was, I think, you know, the co-selling between the sellers is where things get. Really, really hard when you’re multi-partner. And so when I was listening, um, with, you know, the Accenture and Elastic together, you talked about how you had, you, you had to get these BD business development people. [00:42:22] Audience Member: Um, is this a new team that is over the client team? And how do these teams interact like with the elastic sellers? Are you doing a lot of coaching to the field and then with if AWS sellers are, are involved, like what is that whole picture? What does look like, [00:42:43] Allison McFadden: like [00:42:44] Audience Member: on the ground? I mean, that is the hardest part, I think, and that’s what we hear. [00:42:48] Allison McFadden: It’s so, it’s so, it’s so tough. Um, and I will, I’ll just say, so our business development leaders that we now have kind of. Expanded their capacity. They have always been, they have always been there. Um, but they have not been well resourced. They haven’t, they haven’t had very clear kind of job description. [00:43:12] Allison McFadden: I’m gonna say I, in the past they have been kind of focused on partner relationship. And so like more like an alliance manager and maybe working on some of the data. Right? So when I say I have nightmares about Lars, because we’re always trying to increase the LAR for Accenture and, and they were focused like in those detailed weeds of like trying to pass ACE and trying to call the PDM and all this stuff. [00:43:39] Allison McFadden: What we are doing is really pivoting them to be proper sales, business development focused on client outcomes and focused on. Technical skills to be able to describe what this solution is to the field. So, um, and because we need, I have many, many questions about, I gotta get agents to work with Eurogen co-sell so that that part somehow goes away. [00:44:05] Allison McFadden: So that’s a, that’s the thing we gotta solve still, but, um, so we’re pivoting them to be kind of driving. More of that co-sell enablement with the field, um, and taking that message to the field rather than being there, waiting for questions to come in from the field, waiting for like our field teams to discover, oh, I saw something that we’re doing with Elastic, like on a press release on LinkedIn. [00:44:30] Allison McFadden: Right. So we’re kind of trying to pivot them to be more proactive. [00:44:33] Vince Menzione: Very cool. [00:44:34] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah. And uh, Cassandra, that’s an excellent question because I think. Multi-party, you know, sort of tri-party offerings. The hardest part is operationalizing it at scale, right? Yeah. And so for this particular offering, we are basically having three routes to market. [00:44:51] Rekha Thangellapalli: So one is seeing how this offering fits into our existing elastic go to market. And so I am constantly enabling our field sellers to say, okay, within our three field sales place, here’s exactly where this fits in. Here are, you know, uh. Keywords that you hear in customer conversations where you bring up this offering and here’s a process of how it works. [00:45:14] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, exactly At what sales stage do I bring in Accenture, how, you know, what are the roles and expectations? Right? So that’s on the elastic side. We’re doing the same thing on the Accenture side. So we’re doing a ton of training enablement and lunch and learns, and we’re also looking at how do we fit into. [00:45:31] Rekha Thangellapalli: Uh, Accenture’s AI transformation projects, we are the semantic layer, right, of their enterprise brain. And so it’s a whole different sales motion, um, and, you know, having the right assets, having the right process again to make sure that that goes smoothly. And then finally, we’re going directly to the customer. [00:45:49] Rekha Thangellapalli: So we are launching multiple external campaigns where, you know, if the customer raises their hand. We will, we will line up immediately. Right. Um, and so, [00:46:01] Allison McFadden: I mean, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t say how important that third leg of the stool is. ’cause the second part, she talked about getting into our catalog is the first thing. [00:46:09] Allison McFadden: ’cause my BU business development leaders have the catalog. Right. And that’s what they’re selling. So what Elastic has done has gotten into one of those offerings and then. If we have a customer that asks for it, that is the fastest way to alignment. That is like the number one thing that we respond to [00:46:26] Vince Menzione: customer at the center. [00:46:27] Vince Menzione: This is great. Well, I think we’re up to time. This was a great session. I want to thank you. This is what a great, what a great group. [00:46:34] Vince Menzione: Thanks for listening to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. If today’s conversation resonated, share it with a partner leader in your network. Subscribe where [00:46:43] Vince Menzione: you listen, and head over to the ultimate partner.com. [00:46:47] Vince Menzione: For show notes related content and the resources for this episode. And if you haven’t already, now’s the time to register for the Ultimate Partner Live Event in Reston, Virginia, October 26th through October 28th. Until next time, keep showing up in the rooms that matter because being in the room changes everything [00:47:09] I.

Don’t let the AI wave crush you. Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/ Check Out UPX: https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ Dive into the seismic shifts happening within the AWS Marketplace and discover how AI, self-service product-led growth (PLG), and advanced co-selling strategies are redefining partner success. Matt Yanchyshyn, VP of Marketplace at AWS breaks down the recent announcements from the summit, illustrating how agility and adaptation are crucial to surviving the new agentic future. From lowering professional services fees to the explosion of business applications like ServiceNow, this conversation reveals the hidden mechanics of modern cloud procurement and how you can position your organization to capture massive enterprise opportunities before your competitors do. https://youtu.be/gaWxU1kgCLk Key Takeaways Adapting to the new agentic future requires agility rather than fighting the influx of AI tools. Lowering the listing fee for professional services from 2.5% to 0.5% drastically improves partner economics. Organizations without a self-service or PLG motion on the marketplace are literally leaving money on the table. Millennial buyers increasingly initiate complex enterprise procurements through self-service and AI-driven research. New AI-powered opportunity scoring empowers partners to prove their value internally and to AWS. Marketplace success hinges on optimizing metadata for AI agents, not just traditional SEO. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags: AWS Marketplace, agentic workflow, med pick scoring, phoenix.ai, Cara Cloud, branded storefronts, product-led growth strategy, intrinsic value boost, SaaS evolution, self-service motion, Databricks credit model, Trend Micro companion app, MCP servers, opportunity score tracking, PPA drawdown, concurrent agreements, AAMI structural debt, CXML procurement Transcript: Matt Y Audio Podcast [00:00:00] Matt Y: The ability to adapt with change and kind of roll with punches. ’cause a lot of people are saying like, agents are gonna destroy everything. And, and the opposite has been true. [00:00:08] Vince Menzione: You can feel it happening. The ecosystem is shifting beneath us, the way hyperscalers are partnering, how AI is remaking the channel and what it means to win in 2026. [00:00:19] Vince Menzione: Welcome to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. I’m Vince Menzi, own your host. And each week I sit down with leaders at the intersection of technology, partnerships and outcomes. The voices shaping how ecosystems actually work. We talk about what’s real, what’s changing, and what it takes to lead in this era where the partner channel isn’t just part of the strategy. [00:00:42] Vince Menzione: It is the strategy because being in the room changes everything. [00:00:46] Matt Y: Let’s start. [00:00:50] Vince Menzione: And now on to the really important stuff. So, Matt, I don’t wanna butcher it ’cause I, a couple people have told me how to pronounce your last name and they said use the word magician and you’ll get close to it. But I’m just gonna introduce you as Matt Wy and I’m gonna ask you to pronounce your name on stage, but I want to have you join us. [00:01:08] Vince Menzione: So excited to have Matt wy. After a super busy day and night last night, come over from Brooklyn and join us today. Matt, so great to have you. Thanks. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Alright, so pronounce your name for us. [00:01:23] Matt Y: Anyone wanna guess? Ian’s? It’s like magician. [00:01:27] Vince Menzione: It’s not that hard, [00:01:28] Matt Y: it’s not that [00:01:28] bad, [00:01:28] Vince Menzione: but I don’t wanna butcher. [00:01:29] Vince Menzione: I wanted to let you do it. Good. [00:01:30] Matt Y: What calls me Matt White. [00:01:31] Vince Menzione: That’s great. [00:01:32] Matt Y: Yeah. [00:01:32] Vince Menzione: So 13 years. [00:01:34] Matt Y: Four coming up on 14 next month. Yeah. [00:01:36] Vince Menzione: Wow. Congratulations. Yeah. So you’ve been there, you’ve been there since the early days. And we, we had a conversation. I had some Microsoft, former Microsoft colleagues. Uh, Theresa Carlson, for those of you who knew the public sector business. [00:01:48] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Who started, I mean, Andy came out, it was so funny because I was there and she was hosting Andy for a dinner and with all the CIOs of the federal government. [00:01:57] Matt Y: Yeah. [00:01:58] Vince Menzione: And she was still at Microsoft and it was actually kind of an interesting time. And she came over and did a lot of great things for a number of years. [00:02:04] Matt Y: Yeah. She [00:02:05] Vince Menzione: and a lot of great [00:02:05] Matt Y: business. [00:02:06] Vince Menzione: Yeah. She really like, it went from employee number one to 7,000. [00:02:09] Matt Y: Yeah. [00:02:09] Vince Menzione: And you, you were, you’ve been there all that whole time. Pretty much. [00:02:12] Matt Y: Yeah, I guess when I started in New York, just down the road, we were, uh, in a Regis facility. There were like 11 of us in, uh, just sitting around a table and we had to speak quietly sometimes because there was a, um. [00:02:21] Matt Y: Some type of a financial services organization down the hall and they’d listen to try and get stock tips on Amazon. Yeah, [00:02:28] Vince Menzione: I love it. [00:02:29] Matt Y: Never leaked. That’s [00:02:29] Vince Menzione: good. I love it. [00:02:30] Matt Y: Yeah, [00:02:30] Vince Menzione: you probably got some great stories and, um, we won’t have time for today ’cause I wanna leave some room for conversations on marketplace end questions. [00:02:38] Matt Y: Yeah. [00:02:38] Vince Menzione: But I would love to invite you back for a real, like, in-depth podcast and I would love to get the whole genesis story. [00:02:44] Matt Y: Let’s do it. [00:02:45] Vince Menzione: We’ll do it. Okay, so let’s talk about, let’s talk about yesterday for you. Uh, some, some really big announcements as well. I thought maybe you could recap a little bit of what’s been going on in the marketplace business and it’s an, it’s been an exciting time. [00:02:58] Matt Y: Yeah. Yeah. You know what’s, I think what was really nice yesterday is it was sort of the combination of bringing, uh, our partner services like Partner Central and all those other services together closer to marketplace. We’ve been doing that over, over several years. So Marketplace has some of its own. [00:03:12] Matt Y: Big announcements, like, uh, we have a, we formalized our list and sell initiative. For example. We have a new, so it we essentially reducing the cost, uh, to list on marketplace through a partner program. [00:03:22] Vince Menzione: Yep. [00:03:22] Matt Y: And incentives associated with that. We have a new AI powered listing experience, which I think is particularly important ’cause I think many of you are like me and watching your SEO numbers go down and watching your agent traffic go up. [00:03:33] Matt Y: And so having, uh, an AI assistance in marketplace to optimize your listings for not just to, you know, retain what you can of your SEO, but prepare for the newent future and improve your GEO as we’re calling it. So that, [00:03:45] Vince Menzione: so it’s GEO now? [00:03:46] Matt Y: Yeah. You know, there’s a little debate right now in the acronym Moral A A EO versus GO I’m going, I’m on the G team, so, yeah. [00:03:52] Vince Menzione: Alright. GEO [00:03:54] Matt Y: It’s like the, the, yeah, they’re gonna win. They’re like the Knicks, but the, um, [00:03:57] Vince Menzione: yeah, yeah, exactly. [00:03:57] Matt Y: But yeah, so AI assisted, uh, I mean, making. The most of, like, essentially marketplace is an excellent conversion engine. And so using AI to help improve that conversion engine in the form of your PDPs for both humans and agents. [00:04:08] Matt Y: So that was an exciting launch. Um, I got the most applause when I announced that. We lowered, we made the economics better for, uh, consulting offers professional services, nice to marketplace. We lowered the listing fee from 2.5 to, to 0.5% and wow, it goes even lower in certain circumstances. So just improving the economics. [00:04:24] Matt Y: I’m really excited to. Really partner with a lot of you to reinvent services through, through the marketplace like we did with SAS and other areas. Uh, and we’re doing with agents right now. So that was a big one. And then a whole series of announcements around, um, how we’re making it easier and more cost effective and more efficient to partner with AWS. [00:04:41] Matt Y: So using AI to, uh, using med pick scoring to automatically progress opportunities so you don’t have to kind of wait on a human. To, to click and progress, you know, that that can take days. And, uh, if you, if you wanna have an opportunity and have that be cos sold with AWS, that can be through a mix of agents for the long tail and with humans in the, in the sort of top end and more complex. [00:05:00] Matt Y: And allowing AI to help all the partners improve their opportunity quality so that we can better co-sell together. So. Yeah, I said AI a lot intentionally. Um, [00:05:09] Audience Guest: yeah, [00:05:10] Matt Y: AI sort of in the whole cycle for buyers, for sellers, uh, for operational efficiency, cost of sales. So a lot of announcements. I think I hit the big ones, so yeah. [00:05:18] Matt Y: I’m Might have missed something there. There we go. [00:05:21] Vince Menzione: George. [00:05:21] Matt Y: Oh, and storefront. Yeah. Thanks George. See, I look at George to see what I missed. Uh, we, we acquired a great company called phoenix.ai late last year. Okay. And you, you actually were said Caresoft and Yeah. Be down. Uh, [00:05:30] Vince Menzione: yeah. [00:05:30] Matt Y: So if you’re familiar with Cara Cloud, they have a procurement portal. [00:05:33] Matt Y: It’s heavy use by the US government, and they, um. Uh, we, we acquired them, uh, the really great growth company. They have over 70 logos now, and they help you build a branded storefront on marketplace, which obviously is important in the government space. If you’re procuring on a certain contract with a certain reseller, um, you know, there’s a certain set of products you’re allowed to buy. [00:05:51] Matt Y: But what we’re finding is even down on Wall Street, you hear, um, enterprises are, are using storefronts for internal procurement and they wanna have a curated collection of, of partner products and, and your own ecosystems internally. So we’re selling to both customers. And also to channel partners to build custom storefronts, branded storefronts for, and [00:06:07] Vince Menzione: it makes total sense, right? [00:06:08] Vince Menzione: Yeah, because you wanna li you wanna limit the, the viewing and, uh, and get, because I mean, how many different listings do we have? Like over 30,000? [00:06:16] Matt Y: Yeah. Yeah. There’s, I think the official numbers over th we have over 36,000. I was checking from over 6,000 vendors. Um, it’s a lot. And, and that’s gonna explode with the AI powered, uh, listing, uh, experience that we launched. [00:06:26] Matt Y: We’re gonna make it easier. And I guess what I’ve been telling partners is. You know, customers aren’t clicking through categories anymore. They’re using AI to search. And so it doesn’t matter how big our catalog is, what matters is being found. And what matters is converting that buyer. So if you have a. [00:06:39] Matt Y: If you’re running a demand gen campaign for say, like, you know, life sciences in, in Jersey and there’s a specific buyer at j and j, you wanna capture, that person doesn’t wanna be just dropped onto a generic marketplace, 30,000 listings. They wanna be dropped in a very specific place where they’re seeing like life sciences offers from Accenture, for example, coupled with a life sciences power thing with Elastic, you know, like, but a solution. [00:07:00] Matt Y: And that they want to land in a curated place where that highly intention buyer can be converted effectively. So that, that’s what we’re doing with all this. [00:07:06] Vince Menzione: And that’s where the GEO comes in because [00:07:09] Matt Y: Yeah. ’cause that buyer might be an agent That’s right. With, and that agent has is even more fickle, honestly. [00:07:14] Matt Y: And you know, what used to be milliseconds for the human before they kind of click away is, is now perhaps microseconds. Yeah. And so, uh, you know, having the right metadata and, and the right positioning, uh, the right story that an agent or a human can pick up to ultimately. Uh, complete their product research and choose your product is, is critical. [00:07:30] Vince Menzione: Very cool. Very cool. So before I, I, I’ve been asked to ask you this because I, I’ve had this con, people have brought come to me and said, you gotta ask Matt about music. He’s a big music guy. And, uh, so what are your favorite bands? [00:07:49] Matt Y: So, I mean, the, the real answer is, uh. I, I go to about a show about every week. [00:07:54] Matt Y: As, as Mike Trill knows, uh, we heard a show last night. Um, we were, uh, just a few hours ago, really? And, uh, um, favorite band, uh, well, I’ll tell, I’ll tell a story. I, I had a side hustle with MTV for years. Um, I used to run a music website. Um, oh, that’s cool. I didn’t know that. It got, it got kind of popular. It got sponsored by, if, if anyone’s into like early hip hop. [00:08:16] Matt Y: It got sponsored by a group called Jurassic Five. ’cause he, one of them reached out to me and said, nice. Hey, uh, you know, I’ve been, I like your website. And he ended up paying for a web, hosting a Dream host, if you remember, of cost back then. [00:08:26] Vince Menzione: Oh, Jesus. [00:08:26] Matt Y: Because I was broke and couldn’t afford it. And then, uh, and then this band sent me like a, a single and said, Hey, you know, trying to get the word out about our little band, can you help us out? [00:08:35] Matt Y: And I put their, uh, I put their, you know, single up on my, on my website and it blew up. And that band is Vampire Weekend. So they’re kind of big now. Wow. Yeah. Um, and uh, that got picked up by like Vanity Fair and all these other guys. And then I got sponsored by MTV to essentially write. Music reviews for years on the side. [00:08:51] Matt Y: So I was working for the Associated Press, laying cable in sports and war and, and, uh, yeah. So Vampire Weekend was good to me that, that they, they kind of paved a way to go to a lot of free shows over the years and a lot of bands and see a lot of great music. But yeah. [00:09:03] Vince Menzione: That is very cool. And that, and how did that get your day? [00:09:05] Vince Menzione: WS It was just a, it was just the technology path that was like, [00:09:09] Matt Y: I mean, it’s a, it’s a, I guess it’s a bit of a long story, but, um, the. There’s many versions of this story. I’ll tell the, tell the one quickly. I was living for free in a Fulbright scholarship house in West Africa. You, we can talk about how that happened another time. [00:09:23] Matt Y: And, uh, a guy had sort of fallen down on the floor ’cause he’d had too much to drink. And I, I sort of lay down beside and be like, Hey man, are you all right? And, um, he, uh. He worked, he, he worked for the Associated Press and next day I had the job, um, being West Africa, head of technology for West Africa. [00:09:37] Matt Y: And because of that, um, and as I learned years later, the AP didn’t have dr they had no disaster recovery. Yeah. And I, I can tell you that now ’cause um, you know, 16 years since I worked there, but they, uh, I put the DR in, um, on AWS and we’re talking like, yeah, 16, 17 years ago. This is early. It was early days. [00:09:56] Matt Y: And I, I swear to God, I paid for. Uh, our AWS bill using, um, taxi receipts, fake taxi receipts that I bought in on Nigerian market, um, because there was no budget and so, you know, it was like 30 bucks. [00:10:08] Vince Menzione: I was gonna say swipe a credit card, but they didn’t [00:10:09] Matt Y: knew that this is the entire press this before. [00:10:11] Vince Menzione: This is before, yeah. [00:10:12] Matt Y: Yeah, like the entire ap. Um, and, uh, so AWS called me like, who are you? Like, why, why are you paying on like this like low limit credit card for like the ap? Like, who are you? And, uh. Next day I had the job. Well, a week later I had the job with aw WS. That so cool. So that’s the story’s [00:10:29] Vince Menzione: cool thing. [00:10:29] Matt Y: Yeah. [00:10:30] Vince Menzione: Very cool. [00:10:31] Vince Menzione: Uh, sports teams. So Knicks fan. [00:10:34] Matt Y: Yeah, I mean, I like the Knicks. Um, they’re h hockey, I’m not allowed to say anything different. No. I appreciate them. Uh, I’m a Raptors fan. I grew up in Toronto mostly. Yeah, yeah. Uh, so, and you know, when they won, uh, that was very exciting as well. So no, Nicks are great. I like the Knicks. [00:10:49] Matt Y: Nothing against the Knicks. Um. They’re fine. Yeah. [00:10:54] Vince Menzione: Hockey, hockey fan. Favorite hockey teams? [00:10:56] Matt Y: Oh yeah. Itron. Maple leaf. Maple leaf. Yeah. They’re gonna, they’re gonna win. Of course. Of course. Yeah. Um, like every year they’re actually, we [00:11:02] Vince Menzione: have some Canadians laughing in the sand. [00:11:03] Matt Y: Well, the leaf are, are, are the Knicks of hockey? [00:11:05] Matt Y: Like Yes, they are. You know, it’s 67 years out, coming up on 68 since they won, so That’s crazy. 53 is nothing. I know. Pain. So. Yeah, definitely the least. Yeah. [00:11:15] Vince Menzione: I love it. I love it. It’s so cool. Yeah. So what was the, uh, what was the, what was the last concert you went to? [00:11:22] Matt Y: Well, literally last night. Oh, it was last, [00:11:23] Vince Menzione: oh, that [00:11:24] Matt Y: was actually concert were my favorite bar in the world. [00:11:26] Matt Y: This place called Sunny’s. Uh, it’s, you know, I, I took Mike and, and Matt from, from Texas and from TGS down there to sort of see my neighborhood and they’re like, where are we? And I’m like, yeah, I live here. Uh, sort of an industrial part of Brooklyn. And, and we went to see, um, I dunno what you would call it, like. [00:11:40] Matt Y: I guess it’d be like roots music. There was a woman with an accordion and a guy with a big cowboy hat. Yeah, it was, it was fun. Yeah. [00:11:47] Vince Menzione: That is so funny. Alright, we’re gonna shift back years. Um, important time right now for partners. What, what should partners be looking out for the most? What would you say to them in terms of what’s the, what’s their real headline for them? [00:11:59] Matt Y: Well, I, I, you know, to borrow from you actually, you know, I liked, uh, the, the principles you had up there and, and with agility, um, you know, there’s a lot of fud flying around right now. You know, people. People were like, oh, it’s the demise of sis with the arrival of ai, you know, everyone’s gonna be using agents. [00:12:13] Matt Y: And then it turns out it’s been a huge boon for most, uh, you know, system integrators and consulting companies that I work with. They all have, you know, the, the good ones especially have vibrant consulting practices now, and everyone is deploying fds, uh, you know, um, the new, the new cool acronym. But it’s, it’s essentially created a huge opportunity for the consulting space. [00:12:31] Matt Y: Uh, and similarly, uh, you know, there there’s this narrative around the sa sa apocalypse, which I really hate, you know, ’cause it was, uh, premature and kind of a trigger reaction from the stock market. And, you know, just look, look what Snowflake did. And, you know, they did what a lot of SaaS companies are doing, but they, they added a nice sort of glaze of positioning and, and, you know, their stock popped and they did pretty well. [00:12:50] Matt Y: And so I think the ability to adapt with change and kind of roll with the punches. ’cause a lot of people are saying like, agents are gonna destroy everything. And, and the opposite has been true. For the more successful consulting companies and software companies who have become agentic. But SaaS hasn’t gone away, you know? [00:13:05] Matt Y: No. Look at our own marketplace. We have this agent marketplace, but people aren’t buying atomic agents at scale. They’re buying ified SaaS solutions with sort of agent sidecars, which has created new opportunities for candidly additional licenses, [00:13:16] Vince Menzione: right? [00:13:16] Matt Y: Um, as customers sort of want to consume more AI services on top of their. [00:13:20] Matt Y: On top of their SaaS solutions. So I think being agile, you know, you see like ServiceNow as part of our billionaires club. Yes. They’re not going anywhere. They’re, yeah. They’re gentrifying. You know, Salesforce has pivoted to this headless model, um, along with Asian Force and using sort of Slack as the operating system. [00:13:34] Matt Y: And, you know, you said like a lot of companies from the seventies aren’t around anymore. They’re gonna be winners and losers. Yeah. Um, but the winners are gonna win even more. And so I, I think what’s so important right now for partners is to not, not bite too hard at the, the latest trend. You know, models are changing and everyone’s like, oh, you know, philanthropics really in the world and they’re wonderful, great to work with, amazing technology. [00:13:55] Matt Y: That’s what people are saying about open AI six months ago. That’s right. And before that, you know, and it, I, I was with Fireworks AI yesterday, a great company and they have some really cool stuff with sort of, um, they believe in more cost effective, uh, open source models essentially, that you can find tune. [00:14:08] Matt Y: Maybe that’s gonna win. I don’t know. Um, is it gonna be sort of domain specific models? Is it gonna be highly capable LLMs? Are LLMs gonna level off as soon as Fable and Mythos are allowed to launch? Maybe. I, I don’t think anyone can predict the future right now. So you have to be agile and you have to kind of seize the opportunities and take a couple punches. [00:14:25] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:14:26] Matt Y: You know, and marketplace too, like we’re, you have to be unafraid to experiment right now. Um, you know, that’s hard if your stock’s taking a beating. Um, but this is, it’s a, it is a disruptive time, uh, but it’s creating actually enormous opportunities for growth for partners and, and we really see that, you know, in marketplace specifically within AWS. [00:14:45] Vince Menzione: It, it, it does still feel like the deer in the headlights moment. Right. Would you agree? Like you’re probably taking a lot of meetings and, and calls from ISVs specifically? [00:14:54] Matt Y: Well, [00:14:54] Vince Menzione: that are still trying to figure it out. [00:14:56] Matt Y: Yeah. But it’s everyone. Yeah. I think what’s really interesting, I had a meeting [00:14:58] Vince Menzione: with, it’s not just one. [00:14:59] Matt Y: Yeah. I, well, I had a meeting with one of the leading AI companies, like one of the biggest ones. And they, uh, they demonstrated how they work and they were really proud. They were like, you know, look at our agentic workflow. And I came out at me. I’m like, that’s it. Ours is way better. Like really like, you know, ’cause we we’re, we’re using quick desktop with MCP servers and connectors and all this, and you know, we, we have our own sort of ecosystem of partners, a mix of homegrown software and third party. [00:15:20] Matt Y: And I kinda walked out there and, and looked at, you know, my phone, which has been populated by agents this morning with all the, and I was like, I have a way better agent workflow than this world’s leading supposedly AI company. And I think, um, that really, so during, I, I would, during the headlights, you can call it deer in the headlights, I call it chaos. [00:15:36] Matt Y: And in times of chaos there are people who create. Opportunity again. And so, yeah, there are some people who are stuck and who don’t know what to do, who are over worried about token costs, um, who are not experimenting. But there are a lot of companies, uh, taking this opportunity to kind of pivot their business. [00:15:53] Matt Y: Um, I think, I think we’re in a moment and, uh, yeah, I, I candidly I see more of the latter. I see more experimenting. [00:15:59] Vince Menzione: You mentioned ServiceNow. Any other great examples of that? Organizations that really embraced it? [00:16:04] Matt Y: Uh, yeah. Well, you know, ServiceNow is part of this business applications category, as we call it, in marketplace. [00:16:09] Matt Y: That outside of AI, I think is the fastest growing category in marketplace, which is wild when you think about it. ’cause we’ve historically been an infrastructure partner marketplace with security and data and analytics and, you know, security with channel partners, et cetera. But Salesforce, ServiceNow, Workday, Adobe, you know, I could go on. [00:16:23] Matt Y: They, they are actually. You know, our fastest growing category and yeah, ServiceNow, obviously reinventing itself for ai, Salesforce, but Workday, you know, the workday’s done some, who knows if it’s gonna work, but they, they’re experimenting with essentially like a Databricks, uh, credit style model for like, units of work, uh, which I think is fascinating. [00:16:41] Matt Y: Like everyone’s talking about value-based, outcome-based pricing and meter. And, and you have companies that are ERP companies, you know, like traditional business applications, experimenting with effectively like a metered pay as you go, value based credit model. Again, like who knows if it’s gonna work. [00:16:54] Matt Y: But I think that’s really amazing to see and we need more ISVs experimenting. I, I was talking about trend ai and I know they’re, they’re, they’re one of the sponsors yesterday. You know, many of you know them as Trend Micro back in the day. They’ve successfully reinvented themselves. They built that companion app. [00:17:10] Matt Y: Um, you know, that I think we’re seeing. Just a ton of experimentation in the market across categories. Uh, I could go on and on about partners. Um, yeah, there, I I wouldn’t pick a winner right now. Yeah. [00:17:24] Vince Menzione: You, you, we’ve talked about ai. We’ve talked, talk more about the buying journey and how that’s changing, because again, it feels, it feels like that’s also [00:17:33] Matt Y: Yeah. [00:17:33] Matt Y: So, you know, one of, one of the core, uh, strategic objectives, or we’ll say like the philosophy marketplace is that. Um, financial incentives are important, you know, EDP or PPA drawdown, uh, credits. Like we need to act as an efficient and effective vehicle for allowing buyers to exercise their discounts for, and, and sort of partners to exercise their credits, et cetera. [00:17:55] Matt Y: That, that’s actually important. But what, what a lot of people over rotate on that, and we’re really, one of the things we say a lot inside at Amazon or at AWS marketplace is we want to continue to boost the intrinsic value of marketplace beyond the financial incentives. And well over a quarter of all private offers, private pricing, private, uh, custom terms, et cetera. [00:18:14] Matt Y: Um, begin with a self-service or PLG motion. And partners who don’t have a PLG or self-service motion are literally leaving money on the table. Like if you look at like a Databricks for example, and they did a good job integrating buy with a WS within their SaaS application. They have free trials, they have really strong pego and, and, uh, and PLG motion. [00:18:33] Matt Y: They’re making, I can’t share their numbers obviously, but they’re making a ton of money. On purely self-service motions. And importantly, they’re acquiring new business, new logos that they nurture, you know, really like not just leads but closed opportunities, right? That they lead, they’re growing, uh, at a reasonable conversion rate or or success rate into the next big logos. [00:18:50] Matt Y: And these are over multi-year horizons. They’re patient, you know, they bring in these new logos with PLG, and they’re also bringing banking, a lot of large enterprises. Through self-service. I, I was with data Mask. There’s this great little startup from New Zealand. They’re a New Zealand based company. Um, super nice guy. [00:19:06] Matt Y: And, and, uh, they, they got huge logos. I think they got, what was it? A DP and some huge American logos. Okay. And this like logo in, I think it was Chile, or no, it was Peru. They’ve never been to Peru. They don’t have sales in Peru. Um, and they. Buyers were discovering them self-service and they, they, I think they got something like 13 logos entirely through a self-service motion. [00:19:26] Matt Y: One password will tell you the same thing. I was just with them in Toronto and companies big and small startups and the largest are getting enterprise wins in addition to net new small logos through that PLG. Buyer motion. And that’s because you have a whole generation of CFOs, CTOs, CROs, whatever. The C is [00:19:43] Vince Menzione: millennial [00:19:43] Matt Y: who grew up on their phones. [00:19:45] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:19:45] Matt Y: And, and it sounds like, you know, hyperbole, but it’s true. They, they want immediate apps, immediate access. And that actually, you’re like, oh, that never translates to business applications. Turns out it does. It does. And they might not be buying on their phone, but what they are doing is researching and we see the numbers, the amount of customers who are doing their research, and then eventually landing on the page from chat, GPT. [00:20:06] Matt Y: From major financial, like Fortune 500 companies is extremely high. Yeah. Uh, you have procurement team, sourcing team, uh, developers who are starting the research increasingly, like in clawed in chat, GPT, and then, you know, building a proposal and then handing it to their enterprise procurement team. Yeah. [00:20:22] Matt Y: Which is still largely unchanged. So buyer behavior is on the front end, on the research side is really changing. So the [00:20:29] Vince Menzione: discovery is happening through PLG. [00:20:32] Matt Y: Yeah. [00:20:32] Vince Menzione: And then the backend work on private offers and things like that sometimes still happens the old way. [00:20:36] Matt Y: Yeah. Well, and so, you know, it’s [00:20:37] Vince Menzione: fax machine, [00:20:38] Matt Y: some people Yeah, sure. [00:20:39] Matt Y: They’re bringing the deal directly to Marketplace last minute. But even if that deal goes direct, sometimes they’re still beginning their research journey and increasingly using Marketplace as a research vehicle, which is why we launched Agent Mode, um, to help you sort of help you and agents do research. [00:20:51] Matt Y: But that I think if, if I have one piece of device for any partner consulting or ISV is. Don’t leave those leads and that money on the table by not having a PLG self-service strategy like you’re fooling yourself. Uh, and it’s, it’s a huge, it’s a huge, huge business for us. The, the majority of all customers by far on marketplace don’t even have a PPA, uh, and a huge percentage of even those with PPA spend beyond the p. [00:21:17] Matt Y: And so if you’re just think if you’re just using marketplaces as like BPA retirement, you are literally losing money. [00:21:22] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:21:22] Matt Y: Yeah. [00:21:23] Vince Menzione: We have a session with Vinod. We’re gonna talk a little bit about that right after. Great. So good. Um, so I, yeah, I think, um. We talked about, we talked about agents, we’ve talked about the millennial buyer, the change in buying behavior. [00:21:40] Vince Menzione: What other, what other areas of aspect I, I, I, I do wanna think about like opening it up though for a second. I think that maybe with maybe nine minutes left. Sure. I just want to get a read from the people in the room. People have questions for Matt that we weren’t able to ask them. Yeah, I think, I think we probably have a few of those. [00:21:57] Vince Menzione: I think that would probably be great. [00:21:58] Matt Y: I can sense the hardball coming. [00:22:00] Vince Menzione: You’ve known each other [00:22:00] Matt Y: a long time. [00:22:01] Vince Menzione: Yeah. No, no. Hardball. We have a mic back here. Okay. I’ll just, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll get you a mic as we are recording. So good. Thank you. [00:22:11] Audience Guest: Uh, Boris Geller with a, a Click PLG is near and dear to my heart. [00:22:17] Audience Guest: We’ve been doing a lot of business in marketplace and I’m still struggling to sell my vision internally on, on, uh, on PLG. Uh, I think. Ag Agent AI is gonna be one of the drivers, and we are already on, uh, agent Marketplace, but I would appreciate guidance on, uh, best practices. How do we kind of, uh, operationalize it? [00:22:41] Audience Guest: It’s, it’s on us, not on you. [00:22:43] Matt Y: Well, no, I think it’s on both of us. You know, we, uh. One thing that we’re trying to do is give you more data to, to sell to your internal stakeholders in your executive suite. The value of co-sell with AWS all up, like finally with what we launched at, uh, the summit yesterday, you now get an opportunity score. [00:23:02] Matt Y: You, you get a number. People have been asking for this for years, so, so you can say when we do this and we, when we give AWS this information. The score goes up and we have a higher propensity to be cos sold by humans or agents before you had to kind of, it was like this mystery you had to guess. And similarly with marketplace, um, we, we have new dashboards that you can use to sort of, you used to have to sit down with us and go through spreadsheets to trace sort of lead to trace the funnel to sort of a close opportunity. [00:23:28] Matt Y: And we’re gonna continue to launch more there. But you now have more data that you can show. You can be like, listen, these are our inbound leads, this how’s converting, and now we have PRM, the partner revenue measurement where we can say like, this is what it’s translating into in terms of. AWS service revenue driven by our product. [00:23:41] Matt Y: And so that being able to tie from that inbound lead from your demand gen campaign through to a converted opportunity to what you actually drive from an AWS impact perspective, so you can, and then what your opportunity score is that data you can use to sell. Not only internally, but to us as well. Yeah, to a skeptical sales team or whatever who’s not maybe, you know, hype on partners in the, in the US West. [00:24:03] Matt Y: You can be like, listen, I don’t care what you think about my business. This is what I’m gonna drive for you with your quarter retirement from an AWS perspective, and this is how the shape of your customer accounts are gonna change. And this is why you should pay attention to my opportunities. ’cause my opportunity score is, is crazy high and I’m giving you insights into business that AWS would not otherwise have. [00:24:19] Vince Menzione: That’s your brand story we’re talking about. [00:24:21] Matt Y: Yeah. [00:24:22] Vince Menzione: Building your story up with within [00:24:25] Matt Y: So it’s, it’s about the data, I guess. And, and you should, you know, you should all actually be [00:24:28] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:24:29] Matt Y: Asking me for more data, so, you know, and tell me like, what do you need to sell to your internal stakeholders? ’cause if I can draw a clear line. [00:24:35] Matt Y: From your demand chain campaign that lands on a marketplace, which I know is a conversion machine, it has way better than industry levels of, of conversion rates. And then you can show, hey, if we have a PLG strategy and we land those leads on marketplace, we will convert them with high efficiency, low cost of sales and, and, and have sort of a bifurcated where we can close some through self service, some through express private offers and some through private offers, depending on deal size. [00:24:57] Matt Y: Like you tell A CFO that, and they’re my number one customer now and they love it ’cause they see cost of sales going down, cost of operations going down and business going up. Um, so I think we have more data than we used to use that data. And let me know what other data do you need to make that pitch and make that pitch to the CFO go around the head of sales, all those other people. [00:25:15] Matt Y: Honestly, the CFO is where we get the best leverage. [00:25:18] Vince Menzione: Awesome. Great question. [00:25:23] Matt Y: Gonna bring your mic. [00:25:23] Vince Menzione: We’re, we’re gonna get your mic here. There you go. Oh, [00:25:25] Audience Guest: thank you. So my name’s Jody Cheval and I’m a consultant now, but I was at Workday during when they adopted AWS and it, a sales organization needs propensity to buy data. [00:25:34] Audience Guest: To really drive the sales team to realize the opportunity kind of makes them visualize it. We didn’t struggle, but it was challenging to get that data because at that time we’re getting spreadsheets. So does AWS have a vision of making that API based data that our client, my clients, can get at and bring into a tool to start building account hypothesis based on that data? [00:25:57] Audience Guest: ’cause it really is important to an enterprise sales guy to have the sense that OAWS can help me close this deal. [00:26:03] Matt Y: Yeah. I mean. Part of that. So we, we launched, we’ve been launching part of that in stages and we’re not done. There’s, there’s more coming. Um, part of that is embedded really within the new, uh, partner agent workflows. [00:26:13] Matt Y: We are giving sort of more, uh, information back to you, not just about like what funding programs you’re eligible for, but like, you know, and when, when we will co-sell this deal with you, which is effectively a signal like we, we see this as a high value opportunity, that you have a likelihood of winning internally. [00:26:28] Matt Y: We, we have this solution matching engine that we’re using and we announced. That, that that ties you the partner to a customer specific opportunity that you have a high propensity or the partner has a high propensity to assist with and ultimately win. And now we’ve tied that to our express private offers, which we announced this week. [00:26:44] Matt Y: So it’s an indirect answer to what you’re asking, but a rep can essentially say. Send a private priced offer to the customer on behalf of the partner without having to ring up the partner because they have a high propensity to win this deal with the customer. So we’re progressively launching features like that. [00:26:59] Matt Y: In addition to the propensity to buy data that we do now share. It used to be kind of, again, manual magic depending on who you knew we could share. Now we do share that programmatically, and there’s more to come specifically in that space. Uh, I’d say watch that space. In the next few months, there’s gonna be more data coming away, but we do have the APIs, we have the agent. [00:27:16] Matt Y: We have things like express private office solution matching, and we have been sort of in that space progressively launching features over the last six to 12 months. And, and you should expect to see some more there soon, not just from us or from our partners. [00:27:27] Vince Menzione: Nice. Any announcement dates? [00:27:30] Matt Y: I can’t commit to a date or else my engineers will get mad at me. [00:27:33] Vince Menzione: It looks like we Another question number. Is the mic still back there? Okay. There’s a gentleman over here [00:27:40] Audience Guest: first Go leaves. Um, it’s awesome. I’m right next to. I was right next. [00:27:46] Vince Menzione: We’ve got a lot of great plants here, so, [00:27:49] Audience Guest: um, so this may be a little bit myopic or, or a challenge that we run into, but I love a lot of the innovation that’s looking forward and all the future things that we’re doing. [00:28:00] Audience Guest: One of the things that we’re struggling with is a little bit of almost like tech or structural debt. How do you think about bringing flexibility to the core pieces that underpin all of the innovation, which is. We are self-hosted. So one of our listings is an a MI. You can’t amend an a MI, you have to cancel and start over. [00:28:18] Audience Guest: So a lot of the building blocks, when you think about PLG, if somebody wants to add to that in an a MI listing, it’s, it’s sort of broken. So how are you thinking about taking all of the, the rapidly changing buyer behavior and then looking back at the structural foundation that underpins all of those things, like offers and, and amendments and changes and all of that? [00:28:39] Matt Y: Yeah. I, I promise I didn’t seed that question, but that, that’s a great one. Um, so not to get too in the weeds, but fundamentally, marketplace was built up, um, a bit like AWS like a set, a series of services somewhat independently. And each product type was effectively its own service, SaaS, server images, ais. [00:28:59] Matt Y: Um, what we’ve done recently is now we, we have, we got rid of product types basically on the backend. You, you don’t see it, but what that means, for example, like another thing AAMIs don’t support today, future data agreements. Um, or concurrent agreements, uh, they will all be supported by amis before the end of the year. [00:29:14] Matt Y: ’cause what we’re doing, this fundamental thing that you won’t even see called product offer decoupling. Uh, and it’s a fundamental piece of things that we need to unwind. ’cause we built up, we were moving very quickly over the years. We had a distributed engineering model and we built each product type independently. [00:29:28] Matt Y: And so yeah, if you’re a seller and you’re selling containers, agents, SaaS, amies, um, we’re breaking down the silos between those so that each of them will get the same benefits. And, and by the way, we’re taking the same approach to international. Hopefully you’ve noticed now that. It’s not like a feature launches in the US only and then takes five years to launch in either public sector or another country. [00:29:48] Matt Y: We, we’ve taken a global approach to feature launch and increasingly a product type neutral approach to feature launches. Uh, that’ll be largely resolved before the year’s out. We’re working on it right now. So again, it’s, it should be transparent to you, like you shouldn’t actually see any difference in the, in the experience. [00:30:05] Matt Y: Except that all of those features will be available. So, so that is, uh, actively under work. And that’s actually something if you’d like to try, um, you’re, you’re welcome to. So, yeah, [00:30:17] Vince Menzione: we have time for maybe one more question and we we’re actually gonna have you up here with a couple partners. [00:30:24] Matt Y: Sounds [00:30:24] Vince Menzione: good. Kind of fun. [00:30:32] Audience Guest: Hey, Matt, uh, met Natasha from Dondo. Uh, quick. So great announcements. And you know, you talked about the million, multi-billion dollar, uh, club, and, uh, that’s all great. Uh, in terms of the. Propensity data. I think that’s coming at the center of a lot of things, right? You know, for enterprises, oh, there’s an investment and you tap into that investment. [00:30:53] Audience Guest: But also there’s the other side of the procurement where a lot of customers, sometimes we work with, they’re like, they still wanna go direct for whatever reason, right? So I think there’s an education piece there, but also trying to understand like how we can work together to, you know, get some of that side of the things sorted out as well. [00:31:11] Audience Guest: You know? ’cause a lot of times it’s not about. Just, you know, retiring the, uh, the, the spend comets, but also like, Hey, I’m used, I’m already used that for something else. So maybe that’s not an, uh, something that applies here. And in also in tying that the PLG motion, uh, you know, for the customers you said, you talked about, you know, if there is. [00:31:34] Audience Guest: Leads on the TA table, like where the, it’s not the enterprise, but you know, the others. Um, I feel like it’s more to do, changing the business model at some times. Like with the enterprises, you have the revenue stream coming through, say large deals, right? And all of a sudden you tap into this, you know, PayGo. [00:31:51] Audience Guest: Where it flips the whole equation with, you know, the financing and the, and the, and the revenue measurement. So I think there’s two aspects of how do you kind of cons reconcile those things in terms of, you know, the revenue measurements going forward. [00:32:05] Matt Y: Yeah. So, so two things real quick on the procurement. [00:32:07] Matt Y: Um, yeah, like, yeah, I sort of alluded to this earlier, but, uh. Procurement is a bit late to the AI ag agentic transformation. They’re trying, and there’s a lot of great new incumbents in this space. And the big leaders like, you know, Coupa and Ariba and Oracle are, are, are evolving their products, albeit a bit slowly. [00:32:26] Matt Y: Um, but the, I think, uh, it’s still the long pole in the tent. You know this. And so like, there are two reasons why deals tend to go direct, because it kind of hits a wall of. Legal, uh, you know, procurement, governance, like all that kind of after the selection’s been made, et cetera, or, or they’re, you know, we can’t change. [00:32:44] Matt Y: People are gonna optimize for, for finance, you know, they’re, they’re going to, if they’re getting big discounts. I mean, that is life. I always say it’s like sellers at the most agented company are still gonna chase quota no matter how, you know, crazy. Uh, your, your company is, and it’s the same with, um, with the chief, uh, financial officer and chief procurement officer. [00:33:01] Matt Y: They are going to, they’re literally. Paid to find discounts. And so we’re not, we’re not gonna get rid of financial engineering. That’s a, that’s a thing. What we can do is reduce the friction for procurement. So we launched, for example, like mandatory purchase orders. That was a big thing. We, we have buyer notifications, now we’re making other procure to pay enhancements. [00:33:17] Matt Y: I mean, procurement systems still use like CXML. It’s like, that was, that was cool when I worked for the ap. And like I, I have teenagers that are old, like older than, so they, I, I think, um. Procurement needs to evolve and we’re gonna help it evolve. We’re gonna push it forward and, and we need to make it more seamless for procurement teams so that we remove those objections. [00:33:38] Matt Y: Uh, I can’t remove the financial engineering objection, like, you know, that’s just life. Um, but I can make it irresponsible not to use marketplace ’cause it’s so easy to use. And, uh, that, that’s kind of the approach we’re taking on, on the front end. Uh, you, you know, I think you, you, again, I didn’t see this question. [00:33:52] Matt Y: You, you stepped into a trap. Un unwittingly, um, PLG is not just is for enterprise. And, and PLG doesn’t necessarily mean pego or self-service. Uh, doesn’t necessarily like, uh, most of our self-service efforts are actually focused on private offers. And not necessarily for pego. Uh, when, when I say self-service and, and PLG, uh, it, it can mean all kinds of things like it. [00:34:14] Matt Y: We have requested private offer, requested demo call to actions, buttons that you can put on your listing. For example, you don’t necessarily need a free trial or a metered pay as you go listing to take advantage of those inbound self-service leads. So, and those inbound self-service leads are often massive enterprise deals, like I mentioned specifically, uh, the data mask. [00:34:31] Matt Y: Those giant enterprise deals that they launched came from an enterprise like Fortune 1000 Enterprise in the US that organically discovered their solution on the marketplace using our AI search. And that was a massive enterprise. And so I, I think yes, there is the long tail, you wanna capture a new logo acquisition, but you should think of your product like growth in your self-service strategy as a way to, um, acquire all kinds of leads, including large enterprise. [00:34:54] Matt Y: And so when I say leave money on the table, I’m not just talking about things that are gonna mature over two years or tiny little deals. These could be massive deals. Uh, and, and you’ll accelerate those deals by accelerating their discovery and, and research so that I think that, so, and my advice is don’t, you don’t have to go all in if you don’t have, if you don’t have metering, if you don’t have PayGo, that’s cool. [00:35:13] Matt Y: Start with something simple. Start with a public listing, with a request to private offer like that. That is a, a huge step. That doesn’t take much, and, and it kind of blows my mind still that a lot of companies aren’t doing that yet. [00:35:25] Vince Menzione: Great answer. Well, it’s now time we’re gonna bring, we’re gonna bring, it’s time. [00:35:29] Vince Menzione: We, we’ve got some great partners coming up here, Nvidia Elastic, Accenture gonna all join us for a conversation. Great. And I’m glad that you’re gonna stay with us. And let’s, let’s, well, let’s thank Matt, by the way, for that session. [00:35:41] Matt Y: Thanks. [00:35:42] Vince Menzione: And [00:35:42] Matt Y: thanks for listening to the Ultimate [00:35:44] Vince Menzione: Partner Podcast. If today’s conversation resonated, share it with a partner leader in your network. [00:35:51] Vince Menzione: Subscribe where you listen. And head over to the ultimate partner.com. For show notes related content and the resources for this episode. And if you haven’t already, now’s the time to register for the Ultimate Partner Live Event in Reston, Virginia, October 26th through October 28th. Until next time, keep showing up in the rooms that matter because being in the room changes everything.

Most companies aren't struggling with procurement because they're spending too little on technology. They're struggling because they're building intelligence on top of fragmented data, disconnected workflows, and outdated operating models. In this episode of Supply Chain Now, Scott W. Luton and Karin Bursa are joined by Mark Schenecker, VP of Manufacturing Industries at Coupa, for a data-driven conversation on the future of direct procurement. Drawing from Coupa's State of Direct Procurement 2026 report, Mark unpacks why procurement leaders are pulling away from the pack and why AI alone isn't the differentiator many organizations think it is. From fragmented data and disconnected workflows to the growing importance of supplier visibility and risk intelligence, the discussion explores what separates companies that react to disruption from those that anticipate it. Together, they explore why clean, connected data must come before AI, why leading organizations have moved beyond price-only sourcing decisions, and why procurement deserves a strategic seat at the table. Jump into the conversation: (00:00) Intro (01:04) Why procurement is becoming a strategic competitive advantage  (01:17) Moving away from a 1986 approach to procurement  (02:41) Meet Mark Schenecker: Three decades of supply chain innovation (07:13) Behind the State of Direct Procurement 2026 report (08:01) The critical leap from generative AI to agentic AI  (09:13) How a digital front door simplifies the employee experience (13:46) The $16 million cost of operating on fragmented infrastructure  (17:02) Why sophisticated analytics on messy data just produces more noise  (21:36) The three-pillar framework: Infrastructure and foundation first  (26:17) Moving beyond unit price to build supply chain resiliency  (28:25) Shifting from passive reporting to active decision intelligence  (30:09) Closing the procurement influence deficit at the executive table  (35:08) Breaking down the hidden silos between direct and indirect spend  (39:36) Real-world outcomes from Albemarle, Glencore, and ADM  (48:20) Key takeaways, maturity assessments, and closing thoughts Additional Links & Resources: Connect with Mark Schenecker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schenecker/ Learn more about Coupa Software: https://www.coupa.com/ Learn more about our hosts: https://supplychainnow.com/about Learn more about Supply Chain Now: https://supplychainnow.com Watch and listen to more Supply Chain Now episodes here: https://supplychainnow.com/program/supply-chain-now Subscribe to Supply Chain Now on your favorite platform: https://supplychainnow.com/join Work with us! Download Supply Chain Now's NEW Media Kit: https://supplychainnow.com/media-kit/ WEBINAR- AI that moves at velocity: Cut through latency with agentic workflows: https://bit.ly/4x4626t This episode was hosted by Scott Luton and produced by Trisha Cordes, Joshua Miranda, and Amanda Luton. For additional information, please visit our dedicated show page at: https://supplychainnow.com/infrastructure-gap-direct-procurement-at-breaking-point-1600 The content in this episode, including all audio, videos, visuals, and graphics, is the property of Supply Chain Now and is protected by copyright law. Unauthorized use, reproduction, distribution, modification, or re-uploading of this content in any form is strictly prohibited without explicit written permission from Supply Chain Now.For licensing inquiries or permissions, please contact us at production@supplychainnow.com© 2026 Supply Chain Now. All rights reserved. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Procurement Says No is now sponsored by Kodiak Hub - The SRM suite that makes you super smart.  With a nicely fitting suit.In episode 45 Rich and Ed have a super dooper packed podcast - including some exciting World Cup procurement facts to share; techy news from Zip (cutting and pasting is bad); Coupa (buying everyone but not necessarily integrating them); Google (a lovely review of your favourite podcast); Berrow's Beige procurement book (yes, beige); and our very own AI procurement bot - COMING SOON.And we said we'd never do politics, so have lots to discuss and rant about including:NHS carbon procurement targets and value-based procurement guidelinesUK defence industry enquiry stuffEU defence procurement easing and harmonising (what?)UK buys Russian fuel shockSo does EU shockUS economic growth and slavery tariffsAND we have another Secret Buyer - this time buying luxury goods in Edinburgh.AND we have the welcome return of Ask Rich & Ed - where we help our listener(s) negotiate with Trump on bombs and peace; and what to if your job is all about carbon reduction but your company is producing 120,000,000 plastic bottles which end up dumped in the sea.So much to talk about, so little time until the end of the World Cup, and indeed world (unless peace break out). GOAAAALLLLLLL.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/procurement-says-no--5886102/support.

iHeart to start a B2B podcast network — read the signal7:50 — Podcast agencies are still priced like services businesses, not talent factories8:50 — The valuation gap: no shared yardstick for IP and franchise value before it's commercialized9:20 — MARC: building the FICO score for franchise value — Ayelet's startup to watch9:52 — The data problem: YouTube gives real analytics, Apple and Spotify give nothing10:51 — The tech layer underneath the smaller podcast agencies — why it matters for buyers11:45 — AI tuck-in: Coupa acquires Tonkean — Israeli agentic intake and orchestration platform12:18 — Israel continues to dominate enterprise AI tuck-ins13:35 — Solstice raises $21M Series A — AI-native pharma marketing agency, content from months to 10 days14:20 — InstaAgent: out of Alchemist + YC P26, agent swarm coordination for paid social15:15 — Connecting the dots: Solstice and InstaAgent are the venture-stage version of the Silicon Valley targeting agencies thesis16:15 — Advice for corp dev teams at Power Digital, PMG, Stanza: track early stage now17:04 — What's next: episode 67 with Justin Hayashi of New Engine, and M&A Source conference panel

The Accenture agency acquisition is still in progress. Five AI tuck-ins closed this week across fintech, crypto, process mining, hardware, and spend management. And three deals that tell you everything about where the lower middle market is heading right now.Christian and Ayelet are back for Deal Review Friday — and this one is packed.Three deals. Five AI tuck-ins. One major tease still in progress. Running a little over 15 minutes. Worth it.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS0:00 — Welcome, May 15th 2026, and what's on the agenda0:45 — Accenture update: deal still in progress, silence is golden1:42 — AI tuck-in #1: Carta acquires Avantia — AI-native legal services + UK international play3:47 — AI tuck-in #2: MoonPay acquires Dawn Labs — autonomous AI trading agents5:38 — AI tuck-in #3: Celonis acquires Ikigai Labs — MIT spin-out, AI professor joins as chief scientist7:30 — AI tuck-in #4: Nominal acquires Fid Labs — AI agents connecting to dev environments and physical hardware8:20 — AI tuck-in #5: Coupa acquires Rossum — document ingestion layer completes source-to-pay stack8:39 — Deal #1: Brands at Work acquires Chorus — two London independents bet on integrated model9:45 — Why experiential has shifted from discretionary to core marketing strategy11:53 — Two independents, no banker, no PE: why this deal is worth celebrating13:05 — Deal #2: Smartly finalizes acquisition of INCRMNTAL — LOI to close in 7 weeks13:30 — What INCRMNTAL actually does and why Smartly needed it15:26 — Smartly manages $7B in media spend — and now has the measurement layer to match16:00 — Props to the INCRMNTAL founders and Smartly's Head of Corp Dev17:16 — Deal #3: OpAd Media acquires Broad Agency — two women-owned independents join forces18:30 — How Carrie Kerpen brought the two teams together at dinner19:30 — Ayelet was at the table when it happened20:30 — Same theme as Brands at Work / Chorus: independents on their own terms21:01 — Girl dinner confirmed. Christian not invited.21:57 — Wrap + episode 60 reminder

Andy Strong spent 10 years in retail selling mobile phones. Then 17 years building the biggest delivery team at a SaaS recruitment firm in Dorset. He became one of four divisional directors. His team placed 82% of the company's US hires from Poole. He drove 400% growth in North American placements.And then he went to therapy.Eight sessions later, he ended an eight-year relationship, resigned from the only recruitment business he had ever known, and started a company from a shed at the bottom of his garden.Strong Search launched with no brand, no pipeline, and no office. Four retained roles landed in month one. By the end of year one: $1 million in revenue, 39 placements, 100% placement retention, and a team of seven. He turned down work with one of the largest software companies in the world because it did not fit what he stands for. He hired an operations and marketing manager before he hired another recruiter. And he recently appointed a Managing Director for North America who previously held senior roles at Coupa, Icertis, Yahoo, and Clari."I spoke to a venture capitalist in May. She said, what you're gonna learn is what's more important is what you say no to than what you say yes to. She was right."This week on The RAG Podcast, Andy Strong breaks down how he built a seven-figure recruitment business in 12 months and why trust, not volume, is the only model that survives.We cover:Why Andy waited 17 years before going out on his own and what finally changedHow therapy became the catalyst for quitting his job, ending a relationship, and starting a businessThe four retained roles that landed in month one and how they happenedWhy he hired an operations and marketing manager before another recruiterHow his team in Dorset placed 82% of a firm's US hires and beat American-based competitorsWhy he turned down a massive revenue opportunity with SAPThe 100% placement retention stat and what it actually takes to maintain itHis views on AI in recruitment and where the human element cannot be replacedAndy built something from nothing in 12 months. Not through cold calls and volume. Through precision, trust, and the courage to finally back himself.If you have ever sat in someone else's business wondering whether it is your time to go... this episode has the blueprint.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Episode Sponsor: Remote RecruitmentHiring shouldn't be slow, stressful, or expensive. That's why there's Remote Recruitment - the smart hiring partner for modern businesses.They don't just help you find great people. They help you access elite South African talent that's ready to deliver. No PAYE. No NI. No bloated overheads. Just trained, remote professionals who integrate seamlessly into your team.Their process handles everything: sourcing, shortlisting, onboarding, and retention. Fully managed. Fully supported. Fully remote.And now, Remote Recruitment has entered a new chapter. From ops to admin, sales to strategy, they're helping businesses scale smarter with people they trust, at a cost they can afford.Clients have seen:Up to 60% productivity boosts300% ROI on BD roles30% faster completion of operational tasksNo overhead burden. No talent shortage panic. Just growth-focused hiring that makes business sense.Remote Recruitment is your flexible hiring solution for the modern era.RAG Listeners: Get 5% off your first hire + a free strategy session at www.remoterecruitment.co.uk/rag----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Episode Sponsor: HoxoEvery recruitment founder is investing in LinkedIn. Spending thousands on Recruiter licences. Building connections. Posting content. Growing networks.But here's the question almost no one can answer:How much revenue is LinkedIn actually bringing into your business?Most founders have thousands of connections but no clear process to turn that attention into cash.That's the problem we solve.At Hoxo, we help recruitment founders build predictable revenue systems on LinkedIn, not just noise or vanity metrics.Our clients are turning LinkedIn into £100K–£300K in new billings within months, using their existing networks and a simple repeatable process.To show you how it works, we've created a short training video exclusively for RAG listeners.In less than 10 minutes, you'll learn:Why most recruiters are getting zero measurable ROI from LinkedInHow small, niche teams are generating consistent inbound demandThe 3X Revenue System we use to turn LinkedIn into a predictable cash-generating channelSo fill in the form today to see how this system could transform LinkedIn into your agency's most profitable channel: https://hubs.ly/Q03lBpYC0

"Procurement now gets to decide where to play, who does the work, and how much of that work is done by humans versus agents." - Viji Doraiswamy, VP Product Marketing, Coupa Senior procurement leaders are under pressure to deliver much more than just savings. The next advantage lies in the intelligent orchestration of processes, where agentic AI not only automates intake, but enables teams to truly focus on value and strategy. In this episode, Philip Ideson speaks with Viji Doraiswamy, VP of Product Marketing at Coupa. Drawing on hands-on experience with large-scale clients, Viji explains what's actually working with agentic AI, how companies are overcoming trust barriers, and why orchestration (not just digitization) holds the key to operating model transformation. She also shares specific use cases where teams are already realizing ROI and freeing up time for strategic work. In addition to sharing proven tactics for building adoption, assessing risk, and unlocking the next level of procurement impact, Viji discusses: How to separate intake from orchestration and why orchestration drives impact How to shift your procurement operating model for greater control and delegation Building confidence in agent-driven outcomes with explainability and phased rollouts Where most companies start on the agentic AI journey and where they get the greatest ROI Links: Viji Doraiswamy on LinkedIn Subscribe to the AOP Newsletter Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube  

Send a textThis cluster of enterprise software announcements highlights how vendors are rapidly embedding AI, expanding ecosystem integrations, and strengthening vertical depth to drive measurable operational outcomes. From Camunda's integrations with ServiceNow to Pipefy's launch of next-generation AI agents and Coupa's introduction of agentic AI capabilities, the focus is shifting toward autonomous execution layers that can orchestrate workflows, enforce policies, and improve decision speed. At the same time, platform expansions such as ECI's NET1 Commerce Suite, HighByte's Intelligence Hub updates, and Deltek's platform enhancements demonstrate continued investment in unified operational and data architectures to support increasingly complex digital environments. Strategic moves—including Rootstock's acquisition of Praxis Solutions and Provus' partnership with Kantata—underscore how vendors are closing functional gaps through targeted acquisitions and alliances rather than rebuilding entire platforms. Finally, initiatives such as Sage's AI Trust Label and Flowfinity's AI service expansion reflect a growing emphasis on governance, transparency, and trust as AI becomes embedded infrastructure across the enterprise stack.In today's episode, we invited a panel of industry analysts for a live discussion on LinkedIn to analyze current enterprise software stories. We covered many grounds, including the direction and roadmaps of each enterprise software vendor. Finally, we analyzed future trends and how they might shape the enterprise software industry.Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzfdn7jJiVgQuestions for Panelists?

For two decades, organisations have invested heavily in ERP and procurement platforms to digitise source-to-pay. Yet many procurement leaders still find themselves managing critical processes in Excel, chasing approvals over email, and relying on experience rather than real-time intelligence to negotiate with suppliers. The uncomfortable truth? Most enterprise systems were built for control and record-keeping, not optimisation. Unfortunately, we now live in a world increasingly defined by margin pressure, supply chain volatility, and investor scrutiny. So archaic, clunky, limited technology is no longer good enough, especially in Europe with strong economic headwinds, that will last for several years and rapid growth of AI disruption. CFOs Want Efficiency. Procurement Is Under-Resourced. Today's forward thinking CFO's are laser focused on cost discipline, working capital, OpEx/CapEx optimisation, and resilience. Global advisory firms consistently reinforce this and amplify the need for urgent digital transformation and efficient implementation of AI technology across all functions, especially procurement. McKinsey & Company highlights that digital procurement leaders can unlock 5–10% cost savings while improving speed and compliance. PwC points to AI-driven automation reducing manual effort and improving decision quality across finance and procurement. Deloitte emphasises that procurement must move from transactional processing, to insight-led value creation to meet modern CFO expectations. The ambition is there. The problem is structural. Procurement teams are often: Lean relative to spend under management Burdened with manual processes Operating across fragmented systems Dependent on legacy ERP architecture Even when CFO's fully support cost efficiency initiatives, procurement leaders struggle to execute because they lack manpower, clean data, optimal process and intelligent tooling. The ERP Illusion: Control Without Intelligence Multinational ERP platforms — such as SAP S/4HANA, Oracle ERP Cloud, or Microsoft Dynamics 365 — are incredibly powerful financial engines. But they are not purpose-built data driven intelligence platforms, especially for areas such as procurement. They: Capture transactions. Enforce controls. Process invoices. Store supplier records. What they do not do well is: Continuously benchmark pricing. Detect commercial leakage, proactively. Provide dynamic, AI-driven negotiation insights. Surface supplier optimisation opportunities automatically. Remove friction from Supplier relationships. Worse, these systems are extremely expensive and complex. Companies often pay for vast feature sets they never fully deploy, let alone understand. Customisation is costly. Implementation cycles are long and upgrades can be highly disruptive. As a result, procurement teams have no choice but to revert to: Excel models. Offline bid comparisons. Manual supplier evaluations. Email-driven approvals. Even pen and paper in parts of the workflow. The industry becomes digitally "enabled", but not digitally optimised. Even Major Procurement Suites Have Limitations Many of the major procurement platforms such as Coupa, SAP Ariba, and Jaggaer have advanced the market significantly. Yet challenges remain: Rigid workflows. Heavy configuration. Limited/Non existent contextual AI. Fragmented modules across sourcing, contracts, and P2P. High total cost of ownership. They digitise process, but often stop short of delivering continuous, embedded intelligence. Procurement becomes systemised, but not truly strategic. AI Changes the Equation Artificial intelligence shifts procurement from reactive administration to proactive optimisation. Instead of merely recording what has happened, AI answers: Where are we overpaying? Which suppliers present commercial risk? Which contracts contain value leakage? Where can we renegotiate based on real-time market data? Which spend categories are fragmented and unleveraged? AI can: Benchmark pricing at ...

Chris Yin is CEO/Co-Founder of Plume Network, the first permissionless, full-stack blockchain built for real-world asset finance (RWAfi). He spearheads the team shaping the infrastructure and policy standards to accelerate the development of onchain capital markets. Chris has an accomplished track record as a founder and investor in the enterprise software space, with tenures at Scale Venture Partners, Rainforest QA, and Xpenser (acquired by Coupa, IPO 2016). In this conversation, we discuss:- Current price action is just short term pain - What to expect from RWAs in 2026 - DeFi opportunities in RWAs - Plume's differentiator - Regulatory developments in RWAs - Optimizing Looping - Onchain asset management - This history of technology - Nest vaults on Solana - Building Key TradFi partnerships - User experience is everything Plume NetworkX: @plumenetworkWebsite: www.plume.orgTelegram: t.me/plumenetwork_communityChris YinX: @chriseyinLinkedIn: Chris Yin---------------------------------------------------------------------------------This episode is brought to you by PrimeXBT.PrimeXBT offers a robust trading system for both beginners and professional traders that demand highly reliable market data and performance. Traders of all experience levels can easily design and customize layouts and widgets to best fit their trading style. PrimeXBT is always offering innovative products and professional trading conditions to all customers.  PrimeXBT is running an exclusive promotion for listeners of the podcast. After making your first deposit, 50% of that first deposit will be credited to your account as a bonus that can be used as additional collateral to open positions. Code: CRYPTONEWS50 This promotion is available for a month after activation. Click the link below: PrimeXBT x CRYPTONEWS50FollowApple PodcastsSpotifyAmazon MusicRSS FeedSee All

Avoiding the “AI stamp" trap in Procurement starts with one mindset shift: orchestrate AI, don't just adopt it.In this episode, host Mike Jansen speaks with Salvatore Lombardo, CPTO at Coupa, about how procurement leaders can turn AI into a true business driver.Salvatore explains why too many teams chase artificial intelligence for visibility rather than value, and what it takes to build sustainable impact instead. He breaks down how to move from scattered “one agent per pain point” initiatives to orchestrated AI ecosystems that connect data, workflows and people.Drawing on Coupa's real-world client successes, including a €25M saving achieved by Uber through AI-driven spend analysis, Salvatore reveals how to start small, measure what matters, and keep empathy and human judgement at the centre of decision-making.You'll learn:1. Why performative AI adoption fails and what to do instead2. How to start small and scale AI responsibly3. How to turn risk and opportunity into measurable business value4. How to orchestrate agents across business functions5. Why empathy remains Procurement's ultimate advantage___________Get in touch with Salvatore Lombardo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salva-lombardo/___________About the host Mike Jansen:Mike Jansen is Partner at H&Z Management Consulting with over a decade of experience enhancing the value that procurement delivers to organisations. Driven by a passion for tackling challenges, Mike thrives on competition—whether with others or himself. Outside of work, Mike enjoys quality time with his wife and children.Get in touch with Mike Jansen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jansen-mike/

AI is enabling developers and non-developers (product managers, solutions engineers) to write more lines of code than even before. Businesses are under pressure to ship these AI built products to stay competitive while still meeting regulatory requirements. Can AI solve this problem? In this talk, we will explore the opportunities and pitfalls to use AI agents for DevSecOps. About the speaker: Sanket Naik is the founder and CEO at Palosade, building a purpose-built AI platform enabling enterprises to automate their security program and unleash their business potential. He enjoys giving back to startups through investing and advisory roles. Before Palosade, he was the SVP of engineering for Coupa. In this role, he built the cloud and cybersecurity organization, over 12 years, from the ground up through an initial public offering followed by significant global growth. He has also held engineering roles at HP and Qualys.Sanket holds a BS in electronics engineering from the University of Mumbai and an MS in CS from Purdue University with research at the multi-disciplinary CERIAS cybersecurity center.

In 2018, Brex made a defining decision: rather than rely on middleware providers like Stripe or Marqeta, it built its own payments infrastructure from the ground up. That move, Ben Gammell tells us, gave the company a direct integration with MasterCard and the ability to issue corporate cards in “over 50 plus local currencies.” The choice, he explains, was born of necessity at the time but has since become a structural advantage, offering customers greater control and global reach.That same principle of intentional investment extends to Brex's software strategy. The company designs its expense management platform to meet the demands of sophisticated, high-growth businesses such as Arm and Anthropic. The result, Gammell tells us, is a solution that not only competes with legacy providers like Concur but also improves accessibility for smaller firms “with aspirations of being the next DoorDash or Coinbase.”Partnerships further expand the ecosystem. Because Brex controls its processing stack internally, it can integrate with best-of-breed solutions—Navan in travel, Zip and Coupa in procurement—delivering the breadth that global enterprises require while keeping Brex at the center of the transaction.Looking outward, the company recently began expanding into Europe. Gammell tells us the first priority is to better serve U.S. multinationals with operations abroad. Only later will Brex pursue wholly foreign clients. Still, he emphasizes discipline: the U.S. remains “the largest market by a country mile,” and maintaining focus there is key to balancing growth ambitions with profitability and investor confidence.

Premji Invest is an investment firm that backs some of the biggest names in the CFO and enterprise tech stack, including Anaplan, Zuora, Coupa, and Looker. In this episode, CJ is joined by Sandesh Patnam, the firm's Managing Partner, to discuss their approach to investing and the future of CFO tech. Sandesh talks about the evergreen nature of Premji's investment model and explains how this permanent pool of capital enables the company to focus on deep partnerships and durable growth, rather than chasing fund cycles or portfolio diversification. He breaks down why he views total addressable market (TAM) as a floor rather than a ceiling, how investing across both public and private markets creates a strategic advantage, and how startups should approach capital construction and optionality in today's market. The conversation also touches on the evolution of the CFO toolkit, how AI is shifting the finance role, what persistent finance problems are still waiting for innovation, how org design is changing inside finance teams, and why he believes AI is a bigger shift than both the dot-com and mobile eras.—LINKS:Sandesh Patnam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandeshpatnamPremji Invest: https://in.premjiinvest.comCJ on X (@cjgustafson222): https://x.com/cjgustafson222Mostly metrics: RELATED EPISODES:BlackRock Managing Director on the Secrets of Durable Companies - —TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Preview and Intro(02:08) Sponsor – RightRev | Navan | Rillet(06:59) Evergreen Capital and Premji's Approach to Investing(09:25) Portfolio Construction(12:58) TAM Versus SAM Versus Product(15:28) Sponsor – Pulley | Brex | Aleph(19:51) Seats Versus Outcome-Based Pricing(23:30) Defining Durability(26:31) Public Versus Private Investing(28:44) Why One Team Manages Both Public and Private Investing(30:47) Capital Construction for CFOs With Evergreen Investors(32:13) How and When Evergreen Funds Seek Liquidity(35:32) Building Optionality in Capital Strategy Amid Market Changes(38:01) Secondary Markets in the Private World(41:39) The Evolution of the CFO Tech Stack(43:41) AI and Systems of Action(45:43) How CFOs Are Starting To Interact With AI Tech(49:09) A Finance Problem That's Open for Innovation(50:25) The Evolution of the CFO's Role Beyond Finance(51:33) The AI Era vs. Prior Tech Eras—SPONSORS:RightRev automates the revenue recognition process from end to end, gives you real-time insights, and ensures ASC 606 / IFRS 15 compliance—all while closing books faster. For RevRec that auditors actually trust, visit https://www.rightrev.com and schedule a demo.Navan is the all-in-one travel and expense solution that can give you access to exclusive, proprietary Nasdaq-validated data that reveals what's happening with corporate travel investments. See the Navan Business Travel Index at https://navan.com/bti.Rillet is the AI-native ERP modern finance teams are switching to because it's faster, simpler, and 100% built for how teams operate today. See how fast your team can move. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/metrics.Pulley is the cap table management platform built for CFOs and finance leaders who need reliable, audit-ready data and intuitive workflows, without the hidden fees or unreliable support. Switch in as little as 5 days and get 25% off your first year: https://pulley.com/mostlymetrics.Brex offers the world's smartest corporate card on a full-stack global platform that is everything CFOs need to manage their finances on an elite level. Plus, they offer modern banking and treasury as well as intuitive expenses and accounting automation, bill pay, and travel. Find out more at https://www.brex.com/metricsAleph automates 90% of manual, error-prone busywork, so you can focus on the strategic work you were hired to do. Minimize busywork and maximize impact with the power of a web app, the flexibility of spreadsheets, and the magic of AI. Get a personalised demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run#EvergreenCapital #PremjiInvest #CFOTechStack #InvestmentStrategy #PortfolioDurability This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mostlymetrics.com

Nos últimos 20 anos, as plataformas digitais transformaram radicalmente a forma como compramos, negociamos e nos conectamos com fornecedores. Se antes falávamos apenas em digitalização de processos básicos, hoje vivemos em um cenário de leilões reversos, integração com ERPs e dashboards completos. Mas a grande pergunta é: estamos prontos para o próximo salto? O futuro de Compras não é apenas comprar melhor, mas comprar de forma mais inteligente. Plataformas que já começam a incorporar IA para prever preços, sugerir fornecedores e até negociar via chatbots. Analytics em tempo real, com insights preditivos que mostram riscos e oportunidades antes que eles aconteçam. Experiências muito mais intuitivas, leves e acessíveis tanto para compradores quanto para fornecedores. ESG e compliance integrados de forma nativa, entregando indicadores automáticos de sustentabilidade e diversidade. Blockchain garantindo segurança, transparência e contratos inteligentes. Ecossistemas conectados, em que procurement se une a fintechs para destravar crédito e soluções financeiras na cadeia. Já vemos exemplos globais de startups disruptivas, gigantes como Coupa, Ariba e GEP se reinventando, e empresas que enxergam procurement tech não como um suporte, mas como inteligência de negócios estratégica. E aqui fica a reflexão: As plataformas vão substituir o comprador ou potencializá-lo? Fornecedores menores conseguirão acompanhar essa transformação? O verdadeiro valor das plataformas vai além de savings? O futuro já está batendo à porta, e cabe a nós decidir se vamos apenas usá-lo ou liderá-lo.

On this episode, Pete and Julie share their POV's and insights on a rush of HR tech marketplace updates and activity making headlines to wrap up the summer months of 2025!  Pete and Julie share their thoughts on recent acquisitions, product announcements, and news from vendors across HCM, EOR, recruiting, fintech, and more.  Vendors mentioned in the episode include Dayforce, Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, DailyPay, Chime, Deel, Coupa, Flowise AI, Paradox, and SmartRecruiters. Links to stories mentioned: MIT Study: The GenAI Divide, State of AI in Business 2025:  https://mlq.ai/media/quarterly_decks/v0.1_State_of_AI_in_Business_2025_Report.pdf Story on Super Mom, Super Commuter Rachel Kaur: https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/indian-origin-racheal-kaur-flies-to-work-malaysia-supercommuting-13862272.html Connect with the show:    LinkedIn:  http://linkedin.com/company/hr-payroll-2-0  X: @HRPayroll2_0 @PeteTiliakos @JulieFer_HR BlueSky: @hrpayroll2o.bsky.social  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HRPAYROLL2_0

Paul McMeekin talks with Coupa's Bill Wardwell about how embedded payments are transforming finance. Learn how Coupa and Bottomline are helping businesses streamline supplier payments, reduce fraud, and unlock ROI—all within a seamless user experience. Plus, Bill shares his top advice for CFOs on turning payments into a strategic advantage.

"I think we have hit a tipping point where procurement has become a pretty complicated practice. There's so many options and choices and optimizations with concepts that are just so alien to the typical user." - Jason Kim, Senior Director of Product Management, Coupa The procurement technology landscape demands solutions that work for both power users and occasional requesters, yet many organizations struggle with platforms that create friction rather than facilitating smooth workflows. Usability isn't just about the user experience. It's about adoption, compliance, and ultimately the strategic perception of procurement itself. In this episode, Jason Kim, Senior Director of Product Management at Coupa, explains how AI, integration capabilities, and user interface design are reshaping the procurement experience for everyone from seasoned buyers to infrequent requesters. Jason shares practical insights on designing systems that eliminate cognitive overhead, the critical importance of transparency in procurement workflows, and how meeting users where they are (rather than forcing them into rigid interfaces) drives better outcomes for procurement organizations. Jason also discusses: How the procurement technology landscape has evolved from suite-based to point solutions and back again over the past decade Why successful procurement platforms must meet users in their existing workflows rather than forcing context switches The critical difference between designing for power users versus infrequent requesters (and why both matter) Why eliminating cognitive overhead is essential for user adoption and spend management compliance The evolution from centralized to truly decentralized procurement models enabled by intelligent orchestration Links: Jason Kim on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube  

Recorded on location in Ft. Worth, Texas, I chatted with Mark Kimber, Chief Revenue Officer at Fintech, spoke to hashtag#NoVacancyNews to uncover how this decades-old alcohol invoicing powerhouse is shaking things up in hospitality. If you manage hotel operations and are drowning in invoices, this conversation might just change the way you work.

Chandar Pattabhiram, marketing maestro and Chief Go-to-Market Officer at Workato, shares his expertise on the agentic economy and the revolutionary impact of AI on go-to-market strategies.• The rise of AI agents brings productivity without pause, enabling organizations to shift from reactive to proactive approaches• Current AI implementation remains largely experimental and edge-focused rather than addressing core business processes• Workato's approach focuses on cross-functional processes versus siloed applications to prevent agent sprawl• Traditional go-to-market principles still apply – win more, win bigger, win faster – but AI provides unprecedented efficiency• Enterprise context is crucial for AI effectiveness – it's not just about LLMs but Enterprise Learning Models (ELMs)• AI enhances storytelling capabilities but emotional connection remains essential – "heart to head, not head to heart"• Success requires identifying your "onlyness" and selling to markets that value your unique differentiation• Bring philosophies rather than playbooks when moving between companies• Balance technical understanding with human connection – "CTFO: chill the F out"• Life ultimately comes down to health, experiences, and relationships (H-E-R)Ready to master go-to-market strategy in the AI era? Chandar Pattabhiram reveals the secrets behind scaling companies into billion-dollar powerhouses:

In this episode of Corporate Treasury 101, we explore how corporate treasurers can enhance collaboration with Procurement and Accounts Payable (AP) teams to optimize working capital, reduce the cost of capital, and improve cash flow visibility. Tamir Shafer and Rajiv Ramachandran from Coupa share insights on the interdependencies between Treasury, Procurement, and AP, and how technology platforms can break down silos and streamline these critical financial functions. With growing complexity in supply chains and supplier payment management, treasurers need new strategies and tools to drive efficiency and financial health across the organization.Tamir Shafer, Area Vice President at Coupa and a former Treasury practitioner, offers a unique perspective on how Treasury can better engage with Procurement and AP. Rajiv Ramachandran, Senior Vice President of Product Strategy at Coupa Pay, explains how integrated spend management platforms empower companies to gain early visibility into payments and cash flow forecasts while enabling innovative solutions like dynamic discounting. Together, they unpack how Treasury can become a strategic leader by working closely with these departments.What You'll Learn in This EpisodeThe roles Procurement and AP play and their impact on Treasury operationsHow Treasury, Procurement, and AP interconnect to manage supplier contracts, payments, and liquidity riskWays data analytics and technology platforms like Coupa improve spend visibility and cash flow forecastingPractical insights on dynamic discounting and working capital optimization across the supply chainTips for breaking down organizational silos and fostering cross-department collaboration for financial transformationEpisode Breakdown & Timestamps [00:00] – Introduction and $100 AFP Certification Discount [00:37] – Meet Tamir Shafer and Rajiv Ramachandran from Coupa [02:17] – What Does a Procurement Department Typically Do? [06:11] – Supplier Contracts, Risk, and Treasury's Role [08:54] – Understanding the Accounts Payable Process [13:17] – Optimizing Working Capital through Dynamic Discounting [20:01] – Simplifying Payment and Financing with Technology [25:27] – Integration Challenges and Supplier Onboarding [30:10] – Interdependencies Between Procurement, AP, and Treasury [37:03] – How Coupa Enables Collaboration Through Unified Platform [42:54] – Learning Across Departments and Breaking Silos [48:00] – Why Coupa Linked Procurement, AP, and Treasury [56:00] – Final Advice: Treasurers as Superheroes and Change Agents [58:00] – Closing and How to Learn More About Coupa and Our GuestsFollow Our Guests:Tamir ShaferLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamir-shafer-0722434/ Website: https://www.coupa.com/ Coupa (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/company/coupa-software/ Rajiv RamachandranLinkedIn:

We want to hear from you! Email us at BCGInHerEllement@bcg.com with a voice memo describing your In Your Ellement moment. We might feature your story in an upcoming episode!***How do today's business leaders balance performance with empathy in a changing world?Leagh Turner is the CEO of Coupa, a business spend management platform that manages trillions in spending for thousands of customers. In this episode, Leagh shares her perspective on where enterprise software and AI are headed next. She talks about leading through geopolitical uncertainty, how she's driving innovation at Coupa, and why diversity, empathy, and humor matter just as much as results. She also shares how having a performance scorecard has shaped her career. [01:54] The Future of AI and SaaS[04:50] Impact of Geopolitics on Business[07:52] How AI is transforming the job market[11:12] Human Elements in Leadership[15:12] Diversity and “Spiky” People[23:06] Hard Work and Keeping Score[26:10] ReflectionsLinks:Leagh Turner On LinkedInSuchi Srinivasan on LinkedInKamila Rakhimova on LinkedInAbout In Her Ellement: In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn't just arrived—you were truly in your element?About The Hosts:Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

In today's competitive global landscape the responsibilities of CFOs are diversifying more than ever. The fast paced digital revolution, geopolitical uncertainty, economic volatility and the environmental impact of climate change means the modern CFO must adapt to future proof the financial health of their organisations. The need to remain agile and requires fleet of foot finance leaders. In the modern world, technology is helping CFOs to gain visibility over their business functions and react to an ever evolving global landscape. In this Episode of The Next Five, Anna Manz, CFO of Nestlé explains the need to keep pace with consumer change, how technology can help with forecasting, but that a team's ability to adpat to change is vital. Chris Thorn, UK CFO at Suez discusses the unique pressures and opportunities of private and public partnerships, how to react and work with regulation and legislation changes and the role tech also plays for CFOs. Salvatore Lombardo, CPTO at Coupa explains how technologies such as AI can be a welcome tool in the CFOs arsenal, if used correctly. Sources: FT resources, PWC.This content is paid for by Coupa and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this featured episode, we're excited to share a conversation from Thoma Bravo's Behind the Deal podcast. Join managing partner Holden Spaht as he sits down with Leagh Turner, CEO of Coupa, to explore how Thoma Bravo and Coupa are revolutionizing business spend management, leveraging AI, and driving innovation post-acquisition.Hear how Coupa is transforming inefficiencies in the $33 trillion global trade ecosystem using its $7 trillion transaction dataset and AI-driven insights. Leagh also shares her leadership philosophies, strategies for cultural alignment, and how Coupa continues to set itself apart in business spend management.Discover why Thoma Bravo's $8 billion acquisition of Coupa is a case study in growth, innovation, and leadership.If you enjoy this episode, be sure to follow Thoma Bravo's Behind the Deal for more exclusive stories from the world of private equity and tech investment.0:07: Sean Mooney introduces the episode, featuring Thoma Bravo's Behind the Deal.2:24: The $8 billion acquisition of Coupa and its industry-leading position in business spend management.9:09: AI-powered opportunities: Coupa's use of its $7 trillion dataset to eliminate inefficiencies.12:34: Appointing Leagh Turner as CEO: leadership in scaling organizations and go-to-market expertise.23:54: How Coupa's Inspire event empowers its customer community and sparks innovation.30:43: Leagh's vision for Coupa: redefining global trade through AI and collaboration.For more information on Thoma Bravo's Behind the Deal, visit https://www.thomabravo.com/behindthedealLearn more about Thoma Bravo: https://www.thomabravo.com/Visit Coupa's website: https://www.coupa.com/For more information on the podcast, visit bestbutneverfinal.buzzsprout.com and embark on your journey to private equity excellence today.Visit us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/best-but-never-final-podcast/Visit us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/bestbutneverfinal/For information on HCI Equity Partners, go to https://www.hciequity.comFor information on ICV Partners, go to https://www.icvpartners.comFor information on BluWave, go to https://www.bluwave.net

In this Beyond the Deal mini-sode, Thoma Bravo Managing Partner Holden Spaht sits down with Coupa CEO Leagh Turner to discuss her career journey and the significance of mentorship. They also delve into the future of AI and its implications for businesses. Learn about Coupa's approach to AI governance, aiming to ensure it is utilized safely and responsibly to establish a new industry standard. For more information on Thoma Bravo's Behind the Deal, visit https://www.thomabravo.com/behindthedeal Learn more about Thoma Bravo: https://www.thomabravo.com/ Visit Coupa's website: https://www.coupa.com/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

En esta charla con Jonathan Porta, vicepresidente de ventas de Coupa, exploramos como la inteligencia artificial y la gestión total de gasto están transformando la manera en que las empresas optimizan sus recursos y mejoran su rentabilidad.Descubre la posición de Coupa en el mercado y sus últimas innovaciones en IA que están marcando el futuro de la tecnología financiera.¡No te la pierdas!

Coupa has helped businesses better manage direct and indirect spend through its community-generated AI and industry-leading total spend management platform for almost 20 years. Coupa AI is informed by over $7 trillion of spend data across a global network of 10 million+ suppliers and buyers. Coupa aims to empower its customers with the ability to predict, prescribe, and automate smarter, more profitable business decisions to help companies improve operating margins. Thoma Bravo Managing Partner Holden Spaht speaks with Leagh Turner, CEO at Coupa, about the company's journey and how Coupa helps simplify spending for customers of all sizes. For more information on Thoma Bravo's Behind the Deal, visit https://www.thomabravo.com/behindthedeal Learn more about Thoma Bravo: https://www.thomabravo.com/ Visit Coupa's website: https://www.coupa.com/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're back with season 3 of Thoma Bravo's Behind the Deal! Our chart-topping and award-winning podcast offers a glimpse into the world of the largest tech-focused buyout firm. This season, hear CEOs from Qlik, HCSS, Coupa, and more share untold stories of some of Thoma Bravo's biggest and most dynamic acquisitions. New episodes drop every Thursday!  For more information on Thoma Bravo's Behind the Deal, visit https://www.thomabravo.com/behindthedeal Learn more about Thoma Bravo: https://www.thomabravo.com/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Margins: How procurement leaders can maintain supplier relationships, support teams, nurture trust and build resilience in volatile markets.     IN THIS EPISODE WE DISCUSS:   [06.24] An introduction to Michael van Keulen, and what he loves about travel and spending time with the supply chain community. “I love to connect, I take so much pride in what I get to do every day… Helping and playing a role in the community we've created keeps me energized.” [08.31] From the opportunities in technology to big macro challenges, the issues that are top of mind for the procurement community right now, and why collaboration remains crucial. “We're excited about technology, there's so much out there… Finding the right solution isn't easy, but there's a lot of attention now paid to technology in procurement.” [12.48] Coupa's Mind Your Business campaign. [14.08] The importance of talking about how to thrive through cost-cutting and corporate changes. [15.09] An introduction to Rendi Miller from GitLab, and what she loves about procurement. “Like many people, I fell into procurement. And it's served me so well because of the network of people I've met, friends that I've made. It's a really unique group.” [18.10] How to approach change and navigate transition, and Rendi's personal experience of managing big corporate transitions. “The one thing we can always count on is change. You need to be adaptable, and not be afraid of it… Have trust with your employees as a leader, and have a solid foundation built for your people, processes, and technology.” [21.48] Rendi's advice to her younger self for navigating change. “Every time I've been through some sort of change, it's really been for the better in the long run... You can't be shortsighted.” [25.14] The challenges Rendi faced, and lessons she learned, from managing corporate transitions. [27.40] Rendi's advice for procurement leaders to help maintain supplier relationships in the face of pressure. “The time when you need them to step in and help you with a reduction is not the time to start building a relationship! The time to build relationships is right from the beginning… Treat them as partners instead of just vendors that work for you.” [30.13] How leaders can support their teams emotionally during big changes. [34.18] What procurement leaders can do now to improve resilience for the future. [35.15] It's trivia time! Three questions stand between an audience member and a brand new pickleball set. [40.02] Coupa Inspire returns in 2025 – don't miss your chance to meet Sarah and Michael in Las Vegas.   RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED:   If you enjoyed the show, there are plenty more episodes of On The Margins to explore, or check out 213: Manage Your Supply Chain Planning Smarter and Safer with Coupa.

In this enlightening episode of CXNexus, hosts Nicole Saunders and Chris Detzel share their recent experiences transitioning to new roles in the customer experience and community management space. Both having just made significant career moves, they offer valuable insights and practical advice for professionals navigating job changes in the tech industry.Nicole discusses her move from Zendesk, where she spent seven and a half years, to Coupa as the new Senior Director of Customer Experience Marketing. She shares her approach to entering a new organization, including how she prepared for the role and her strategy for the first few weeks on the job. Nicole emphasizes the importance of listening, asking key questions, and quickly identifying patterns and priorities within the new company.Chris reveals his transition from Reltio to ZoomInfo, where he'll be starting as a Senior Community Manager. He details his proactive job search strategies after his position at Reltio was eliminated, highlighting the crucial role of networking and personal branding on LinkedIn. Chris offers creative tips for standing out in the job application process, including creating personalized presentations and leveraging existing connections.The hosts dive deep into several key topics:The importance of personal branding and "working out loud" on platforms like LinkedIn to attract opportunities.Strategies for networking effectively, including reaching out to connections and asking for help.Techniques for preparing for a new role, such as researching the company and creating preliminary strategies.The emotional aspects of leaving a long-term position and starting fresh in a new organization.Practical advice for the first few weeks in a new job, including meeting key stakeholders and identifying quick wins.The value of bringing ideas and potential roadmaps to a new position, especially when building programs from the ground up.Throughout the episode, Nicole and Chris share personal anecdotes, challenges they've faced, and lessons they've learned during their recent transitions. They offer encouragement to listeners who may be considering a job change or find themselves unexpectedly in the job market.This episode provides valuable insights for professionals at all stages of their careers, particularly those in customer experience, community management, and related fields in the tech industry. Listeners will come away with practical strategies for job searching, interviewing, and starting strong in a new role, as well as a renewed appreciation for the power of professional networks and personal branding in career advancement.

In this latest episode, Carla Sarti, former VP GBS - Lear Corporation, joins Mustansir Saifuddin to share what she's learned in her decades of experience, with both business and technology, about how businesses and teams can be successful in any IT implementation. From teamwork to fundamental project management, to supplier relations, Carla dives in to highlight quick takeaways that you can implement to make an even bigger impact with your IT implementation. Carla Sarti was most recently the Vice President of Global Business Services at Lear Corporation – a position she held since April 2018.  Prior to this position she was Vice President of Non Production Purchasing and Director of Shared Services.   Prior to Lear, she served as Account Executive at ACS, a Xerox company (now Conduent) where she acted as chief strategy officer and Director of Sales for many large accounts in the Finance and Accounting Outsourcing area.  She spent five years at Delphi Corporation in numerous roles of increasing responsibility including managing the SAP environment after implementation and working as a Lean expert for the Cockpits business.  She also worked as a plant and divisional financial analyst at TRW and an operational auditor at the Budd Company. Connect with us: LinkedIn Carla Sarti Mustansir Saifuddin Innovative Solution Partners  Twitter:  @Mmsaifuddin YouTube or learn more about our sponsor Innovative Solution Partners to schedule a free consultation.    Episode Transcript: [00:00:00] Mustansir Saifuddin: Welcome to Tech Driven Business brought to you by Innovative Solution Partners. Carla Sarti, a seasoned executive, shares her insights that any team can use for leading successful IT projects. From understanding business processes to the importance of transparency, teamwork, and supplier relations, Carla reveals the key ingredients for project success. [00:00:30] Welcome to Tech-Driven Business Carla. How are you? [00:00:33] Carla Sarti: I'm great. Thanks for having me. Great to see you. [00:00:38] Mustansir Saifuddin: It's great to have you on our show. And I'm glad that , you took the time out to share some of your thoughts and leadership with us today, [00:00:46] Carla Sarti: Absolutely. [00:00:48] Mustansir Saifuddin: so our topic is going to be Secrets to successful IT projects. How does it sound to you? [00:00:55] Carla Sarti: Amazing. It's 1 of my passions. [00:00:58] Mustansir Saifuddin: I know, I know. And I think that's going to be something that it will be very helpful to our listeners, especially in this day and age where technology is changing so fast. There are so many different options available. And I. T. Is in the middle of all of this. Let me start with this. You know, I want to set the stage. [00:01:15] So let's begin with this. Can you share some background on how you How did you find yourself leading I. T. Projects you started your career in a totally different arena? [00:01:29] Carla Sarti: Absolutely. So, yes, I have a business degree of my MBA. I started in audit and very specific businesses, purchasing finance, et cetera. But technology was always something that I was very curious and passionate about. When I was a co op at TRW, the vice president of finance came to me one day and I'm going to date myself a little bit here, but we were on Lotus 1, 2, 3, and he had a disc in his hand and he said, Carla or little kid or whatever he called me. [00:02:00] Here's a disk of Excel. I would like all of our reports moved from Lotus 1, 2, 3, put on Excel and let's review them next week. And I said, okay, let's go. And so I taught myself Excel and I really started to understand the power of technology. And that's just such a basic example. Right. So while I was still a co op, I got involved in an SAP implementation and That really opened my eyes to what technology can bring, and I've been into it ever since. [00:02:32] So different functional groups I've been in, I've always brought best in class processes along with the technology side, because I think it is, it goes hand in hand, but I've done everything from SAP, Coupa, SharePoint, RPA, and now dabbling in AI. [00:02:50] Mustansir Saifuddin: Absolutely. You know, it doesn't matter matter where you start? You know, even having a business degree, like you mentioned technology is always with you and it's around you. So you got to either embrace it and you got to go with the flow or you're going to fight it, right? So I, I like the approach that you mentioned that, you know, your first inital foray into this whole technology area was just, you know, just of the iceberg, right? [00:03:14] You got into this thing and now Years later, you are much ingrained in this whole technology stack. So, let's talk about your experience. You have decades of experience. What do you see as some key factors that contribute to the success of IT projects, which is so important? [00:03:33] Carla Sarti: So I'm going to start with the assumption that before you implement any sort of technology, You've really understood your business, right? And where are your business processes? What needs to be cleaned up? You're not just bringing in technology to bring in technology because I don't think that's ever usually successful, but so you've done that and then you've really understood again, the current processes. [00:04:01] The gaps that you have and what is your success criteria? I think a lot of people, a lot of companies don't look at what success looks like at the very beginning. And they say, Oh, okay. Yeah. We're just going to implement this. We heard it's the best solution and they don't think through, what are we trying to achieve? [00:04:19] That, that really starts dictating what a successful project looks like. Then you through the whole. Project. You obviously have to have the right team members on the project, having an executive sponsor that can break down roadblocks. I've seen projects that the best ones typically have a business person leading them. [00:04:44] Because they understand what's trying to be accomplished. Not that IT can't lead projects and they are definitely very integral to the process. But typically, when a business person runs them, they're implemented quicker. The understanding is there. The right process mapping has been done, et cetera. So you've got the right people. [00:05:07] Probably have suppliers in the mix, because what company has all that skill set on hand? So you have to have the right suppliers. And then through the course of it, you have to have the right governance. So the communication process, the transparency of where the project truly is, because as you know, IT projects are not a hundred percent foolproof, right? [00:05:33] Something always happens in any kind of project, whether you're building a house, you're, you're baking a cake or whatever it is, something goes wrong and you've got to have the right transparency and communication. To understand what to do next, then obviously you could have the best tool in the world. [00:05:51] The best project. It's going great. You have to have change management methodology and processes embedded in the project because if people aren't going to use it. What does it matter? Right? And I mentioned Excel when I was a co op, a lot of people still use Excel and you could put in the best shiny new toy technology. [00:06:13] People are comfortable with Excel. So you've got to explain to people how their jobs going to change and give them the appropriate training to make it a true success. In the end. [00:06:25] Mustansir Saifuddin: For sure. And I think you touched upon a lot of it. Some very key points. You know, starting with a champion, you know, has to be a business. How do they currently do the job? How can they do it better? You know, governance, such a key piece. You need to have that in place, change management, you know, I've been in technology field for so many years. [00:06:44] That's one thing that we know. If there is no good change management in place, It doesn't matter what technology, what kind of resources or what kind of supplier you're using, it doesn't go well. The end user needs to be on board. They need to really be part of the whole implementation process in order for them to adapt and then be the voice of the new tool because they are the ones who will be actually living with it, doing it on a daily basis. [00:07:15] So great point. [00:07:15] Carla Sarti: And people get scared. I mean, they get really nervous when a new project's coming, right? And especially in the age of AI, people think they're going to lose their jobs and companies need to do a really good job explaining. No, no, no. So you do this today, but tomorrow we need you to do that. And actually you'll probably be more fulfilled doing. [00:07:36] The new, but it's just that, that way of explaining and coaching them through it and not just dumping something on their lap. [00:07:45] Mustansir Saifuddin: Absolutely. And that's the key, right? How is it helping the real users of the system that this implementation or this piece of software doesn't matter? You're doing an E. R. P. implementation. You do some kind of data analytics project or any other systems that you're putting in place. It is there to help the business move to the next level. [00:08:08] How can we be more profitable? How can we make it easier for our customers to deal with us? different scenarios, right? And this and all of these are bundled together to give you the next level of the best, right? How can you do your job a better way than what you're currently doing? So totally agree with you. Now you touched upon one key fact, right? The idea of finding the right supplier. So how do you find the right supplier to support your initiatives? Can you share examples of successful IT projects? Where your supplier collaboration was very effective. [00:08:44] Carla Sarti: Finding the right supplier is key to the equation. I've always looked for a valued, trusted business partner. And. You know, there's, there's a lot of ways to get there. And I think a lot of it is being up front in the initial RFP process. [00:09:03] And you've got to have as much information for the supplier as possible to bid on because what you don't want is. Death by change order later because they didn't understand the project. You didn't understand the project as the business. That breaks down a relationship really, really fast. So again, more of that transparency, the collaboration. Some of the best projects I've had and I can't go into a lot of detail on them, but we implemented a tool in 18 months at one of my companies and really the success of the project was a lot. [00:09:39] on the supplier side. We brought somebody in with a great skill set in the tool that we were building. They had a road map. They had this amazing design methodology and the right questions were asked. The right people were brought by us as the company and, you know, we got off to a great start when things did go wrong. [00:10:02] They were very, very transparent. They said, okay, we need to get together. Let's pull everyone together. Let's get these questions answered. And they didn't hide things. We didn't hide things. It was probably the best project I've ever implemented. And that's what it takes. Again, that collaboration, transparency, and that win win from both sides. [00:10:25] Mustansir Saifuddin: Absolutely. I think you touched upon all the things that a successful project should look like, especially from a practices point of view, the strategy point of view and the relationships standpoint. Right? All of these work together and. You know, I, I just use the example of many different projects that I've done. [00:10:44] And, you know, especially when you're working with clients, transparency up front really helps. It sets the stage and make sure that both the client and the supplier are on the same page. And when you start off with that approach, things, like I said, things can go wrong, but you have a plan in place how to mitigate those issues, how do we get on the same page and make sure that whatever things that are an obstacle to the project are taken care of working collaboratively versus, you know, us versus them. [00:11:18] Carla Sarti: Right. Exactly. That's the last thing you want to get into in a project. It's already complex enough, [00:11:24] Mustansir Saifuddin: Yeah. And, like you mentioned earlier, right, that always something that comes up. You, you have the best of the intentions, but it can be a business challenge. There can be a technology challenge. There can be integration challenges. All different factors play a role into things can go in a different direction very quickly. [00:11:46] Carla Sarti: right? Oh, we didn't know this site had this approval process in here. And oh, this one has a different one. You find things as you get the project going and you have to be agile. You have to be flexible. You can't have. You know, the last thing you want is a supplier that's like, Oh no, you know, this, this is what we were brought in for. [00:12:06] I mean, we can talk about commercials, but you know, let's just all collaborate and get it done. That's where you need that trusted relationship because you don't want the supplier thinking, Oh, okay. They're going to ask me to do this for free. And you don't want the customer to be like, okay, they're not going to be able to do it. [00:12:23] So you've got to have that open dialogue going. [00:12:26] Mustansir Saifuddin: For sure. So, on a personal note, how do you stay on top of this fast changing pace of technology? What's, what's your secret sauce? [00:12:36] Carla Sarti: I've always been a constant learner always right? I mean, and I think being a co op at 18 years old, really drove that in me. It was the time, I kind of want to date myself it was the time when computers were kind of just starting to be used and I saw people just fumbling with the mouse. I mean, think of that in today's day and age, right? [00:13:01] I mean, back then people were fumbling with mice. I was like, oh my goodness, I never want to be in a position where, I'm not kind of at the forefront of technology. And I'm just a learner anyway. So, you know, whether it be books podcasts really from a technology standpoint, I think is what keeps me up to date. [00:13:21] I love the podcast. It's called All in One it's for billionaires that. Actually have very different views on things, whether it be politics or technology or science, and they talk about everything under the sun. Nvidia actually has an AI podcast. It's called the AI podcast, and then there's AI today. [00:13:44] And then being in GBS and shared services, a lot of my career, I stay on top of those things with SSO next. And they talk about technology, tons of technology within that realm as well. I read tons of articles on LinkedIn, the Wall Street Journal, and then definitely leadership books. I know that's not necessarily technology, but. [00:14:05] When you're talking about leading people again through change, and, you know, the best way to be collaborative, I find that to be extremely helpful. Patrick Lencioni is one of my favorite authors The 5 Dysfunctions of Team, one of my favorite authors. Favorite books. And he writes very much like fiction. [00:14:23] So it's really easy to get through. I don't know if you've ever listened to or read Jocko Wilnick's books, but he has extreme ownership and a couple others, phenomenal books, right? I mean, just kind of look at yourself in the mirror and it, it goes to project management, so extreme ownership. Am I doing everything I possibly can to be successful? [00:14:44] Have my team be successful. So really good one for project management. Mustansir. [00:14:50] Mustansir Saifuddin: Nice, I think you've got a whole slew of resources available at your fingertips that's good. I think like one thing that I really liked about your approach, I mean, you've seen it all, you've played different roles, It's refreshing to see someone like you in your space that you still find yourself as a student, you know, still keep on learning and be able to keep yourself ahead of the curve. [00:15:12] And I think that's the key, right? The different roles we play depending on what you're doing your daily job, but at the same time, looking around and seeing what else is going around you. We live in the space of, and the times of Gen AI. AI being disruptive and how it will change our lives. It's already is changing, you know how do you stay ahead or at least keep up with the technology? [00:15:39] I think is the key to your success. So that's what it seems like you you've been very much in tune with it. [00:15:46] Carla Sarti: Absolutely. One of the coolest things I ever did was reverse mentoring. So I had someone younger in the organization mentoring me, right? And then it helps you get into their shoes and understand what drives the next generation. What tools and technology are they using? It's really fascinating. And of course I, I use my kids too. [00:16:08] You know, I have a 19 year old and a 17 year old and just understanding: How they think, what they're looking at, what they're using, chat, what's GPT 4 all about. You know, you got to stay on top of things. [00:16:21] Mustansir Saifuddin: Yeah, they are the best teachers. I mean you think about technology I mean this younger generation is amazing and how they are adapting and all that. Let's get into the conversation about you know, we talked about successful supplier collaborations very key, right, important but what are some of the common challenges companies face? [00:16:41] With IT suppliers during a project. Can you share some ideas on thoughts on that? [00:16:49] Carla Sarti: I think one of the ones I've seen is where someone's oversold their capabilities, right? You've got a supplier, maybe they did a really good job on one project and they're asked to bid on another. And as a company, and again, trying to find that trusted supplier, it's very easy to fall into, well, let's just use these guys that were successful before. [00:17:13] You've really got to evaluate, are they going to be successful for this project? And of course they want business. Everyone wants business, but you've really got to look and say, okay, can I deliver on this project? Because if I can't. I'm actually going to ruin my reputation within the company. So just being honest and making sure again, from the company's standpoint, you're choosing the right supplier and that the suppliers. [00:17:42] Again, understanding the project that you're trying to implement and maybe they don't understand at first and they think they can deliver on the project. So, as a supplier, I would say, make sure you ask the questions. Be curious. Why are you doing this project? What exactly are you looking for? Oh, okay. [00:18:02] It's in this space. Okay. We don't have people in that space. Well, I can maybe bring people in to do that. You know, really understanding, that side to me, can really change the dynamic there. And then again, I'm not gonna, I'm going to keep talking about the transparency. If the supplier cannot be transparent when there is an issue, it's not going to be good.. I've always told people whether they work for me or a supplier, Bad news doesn't get better with time. You've got to bring these things forward. We've got to come up with solutions together. I don't care whose fault it is. [00:18:38] Mustansir Saifuddin: Yeah, [00:18:39] Carla Sarti: Like, ultimately, I want this project to be successful. So let's work together to get that done. [00:18:45] Mustansir Saifuddin: absolutely Absolutely. I think and and that's where I my question to you is how do you mitigate those issues? Everybody wants a smooth and successful implementation. It's just Everybody thinks that's how it should go, but we all know there are challenges. [00:18:59] Carla Sarti: Mm hmm. [00:19:00] Mustansir Saifuddin: you maybe share some ideas, thoughts on how do you mitigate those issues or something that you may have seen in the past? [00:19:08] Carla Sarti: So we, a lot of times, use just basic project management. Fundamentals, right? You've got your project plan. Are you on plan or not? Then you look at what can go wrong. Okay, you list out all the things that you think could go wrong and you start putting mitigating plans together on that, right? And having meetings around those things. [00:19:31] Okay, guys, how are we doing? Are we getting the data? That's going to be a big thing here. Did we get it? Did we not? What do we need to do? And again, having the right people on the project. So do you have somebody who can go in, break down those roadblocks if things aren't getting done, building the right relationships, again, you got to have the right people who can build relationships. [00:19:53] Project management, as you know, It's almost more about being a psychologist than anything else. I mean, you've got to bring people together that maybe don't normally work together. They have very different personalities. You've got people on the IT side that have different personalities than the project side. [00:20:11] So you've got to make sure that you understand those factors and use project management methodology. It's there for a reason. I mean, I've seen people, they're like, Oh, we don't need a project plan. Yeah. Like what? What are you talking? How do you do a successful project without a project plan? You don't even know what's coming next. [00:20:31] You don't even know where you are in the cycle. Are you on track? Are you not? So I think those things, honestly, like don't overlook the fundamentals. [00:20:41] Mustansir Saifuddin: No, I think that's a great advice. I one thing I, I, I like about your approach or your thinking is a project manager being a psychologist. You know, how many times you go through these, these iterations of projects after projects, you know, being a.supplier ourselves. I mean, I, I really appreciate your thought process on that because there's so many different stakeholders in any given time and project where you may have one stakeholder on board, but you may have someone else either business, I. [00:21:11] T. Whatever else you're working with. They may be either lost. They don't agree with your approach or there's something else that in this space. And you needs someone who can actually mitigate all those different pieces of the, [00:21:25] Carla Sarti: Mm [00:21:26] Mustansir Saifuddin: puzzle and bring it all, all of them together in a way they see the value. [00:21:30] It's all about value proposition and making sure that the end product is what the customer is asking for. Can we deliver? If we can deliver, what is the game plan? How do we go about making sure that we are all on the same page? Because at the end of the day, Once it is delivered correctly, It's a win win, you know. so [00:21:48] Carla Sarti: Hmm. [00:21:49] Mustansir Saifuddin: Do appreciate that insight into it and I know we talked about a lot of different things. I like to ask this one parting question. [00:21:58] What is that one key takeaway? You want to leave with our listeners today. [00:22:05] Carla Sarti: IT projects are very complex. So again, I would say the fundamentals are key. Understand what you're trying to accomplish. That is number one, understand the processes, get the right team involved, the right supplier, and set yourself up for success. So fundamentals. Use project management. Methodology for sure. [00:22:33] I mean, it's there for a reason and have the right, the right people on the project is key. I know I'm doing like five different key takeaways here in Mustansir, but really again, it's just so complex and the fundamentals, the right people and, and the right methodology, key, [00:22:51] Mustansir Saifuddin: No, thank you. Great advice and great takeaways. And I think once we have all these different pieces of the puzzle together, it's a recipe for success. So with that I'd like to conclude our session and I'd like to thank you for coming on on our show It was a pleasure having you. [00:23:08] Carla Sarti: likewise. Thank you for having me. [00:23:10] Mustansir Saifuddin: Thanks for listening to Tech Driven Business brought to you by Innovative Solution Partners. Carla shared valuable insights that can be used immediately by your IT team her main takeaway, focus on the fundamentals that include understanding your objectives, involving the right team of staff and suppliers, and stick to solid project management methodologies. [00:23:33] We would love to hear from you. Continue the conversation by connecting with me on LinkedIn or Twitter. Learn more about Innovative Solution Partners and schedule a free consultation by visiting isolutionpartners. com. Never miss a podcast by subscribing to our YouTube channel. Information is in the show notes.

Washington Spirit midfielder Andi Sullivan joins the show to talk about her team's early season success. Sullivan says the success has lead to six of her teammates getting calls into the USWNT under Emma Hayes, which was a fun day at work Tuesday! Plus, Sullivan talks about the versatility of the Spirit's current system, her partnership with Hal Hershfelt, and her beloved dog Coupa ahead of Pitchside Pups Friday night at Audi Field.

This episode features Lubna Khaleeli, Director of Talent Acquisition at Coupa, discussing the intricate aspects of partnerships and stakeholder management within the realm of talent acquisition. She emphasizes the importance of establishing trusted relationships, harnessing data and authenticity to provide strategic hiring solutions, and prioritizing business outcomes. Lubna shares insights into the challenges of aligning with hiring managers and navigating the complexities of different stakeholder expectations. Through examples from her career, she highlights the impact of advocating for candidates and the necessity of a solution-oriented approach to problem-solving in talent acquisition. The discussion encapsulates the vital role of talent acquisition specialists in benefiting the businesses they serve and fostering a transformative environment through strategic and thoughtful engagement with candidates and hiring managers. Highlights 01:59 The Art of Building Trusted Partnerships in Talent Acquisition 05:16 Defining Success in Talent Acquisition Beyond Hires 07:22 Navigating Challenges and Advocating for Candidates 18:04 Empowering Talent Teams and Stakeholder Management ------ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Talent Tango, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

We're tearing down the old procurement playbook and rewriting rules that foster stronger connections with industrial distributors, through digital toolkits that transform procurement from a support function to a centerpiece of strategic influence. As we wade through this digital tide, the insights shared are bound to redefine your approach to efficiency and relationships in this competitive arena.Picture a world where e-commerce portals and EDI technology act as the neural pathways of procurement. This episode peels back the curtain on how seamless electronic document exchange is revolutionizing the industry, with systems like PunchOut and CXML at the helm. Listen closely as we unravel the layers of how Ariba, Coupa, and Jagger Tungsten are exploiting these innovations for business prosperity. We shine a spotlight on the transformative digital solutions redefining the distributor's world. EDI emerges not just as a tool but as a guiding light, illuminating the path to precision in decision-making and inventory management. The age of cumbersome catalogs and opaque purchasing processes is being eclipsed by user-friendly e-commerce solutions that broaden a distributor's horizon. Here's to the unparalleled access to data that these digital marvels provide, and to the magic they weave in customer service, sales, and operations. Stay connected, stay curious, and let's continue to navigate the future of industrial manufacturing together.Remember to keep asking why...Digitalization Resources:Digital Age ArticleVideo Explanation of Registering for an AccountRegister for an AccountOther Resources to help with your journey:Installed Asset Analysis SupportEECO Smart Manufacturing GuideSystem Planning SupportSchedule your Visit to a Lab in North or South CarolinaSchedule your Visit to a Lab in VirginiaSubmit your questions and feedback to: podcast@eecoaskwhy.comFollow EECO on LinkedInHost: Chris Grainger

Embracing the Unknown The field of student affairs is constantly evolving, and professionals in this domain must be equipped with strategies to navigate uncertainty effectively. Success in this arena comes from a blend of versatility, patience, and transparency. Versatility and Adaptation Aquaneta Pinkert from Alabama State University highlights the importance of being well-versed in various areas, allowing for a smooth pivot when needed. Embracing a versatile approach prevents stagnation and ensures relevance in meeting student needs. This pivot-and-adapt strategy is crucial in staying dynamic within the field. Patience and Trust Taylor Cain of the University of Georgia emphasizes practicing patience amidst uncertainty. By trusting the process and focusing on controllable elements, student affairs professionals can maintain composure and lead with confidence, even when future outcomes are unclear. Transparency in Leadership Dr. Adrienne White from George Mason University shares her experience during COVID, when uncertainty reached a peak. By committing to monthly one-on-ones with her team and maintaining transparency, she fostered a supportive environment that not only alleviated concerns but also reinforced trust and collective problem-solving. Moving Forward with Resilience As student affairs professionals, embracing uncertainty isn't just about survival—it's about thriving and finding opportunities for growth. The strategies shared by these professionals are only a few of about 50 that provided a glimpse into the diversity of approaches used across the field to overcome challenges and foster an environment that champions both student and professional development.   TRANSCRIPT Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:01]: Welcome to student affairs voices from the field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts. This is season 10, continuing our season 9 theme of On Transitions in Student Affairs. This podcast is brought to you by NASPA, and I'm doctor Jill Creighton, she, her, hers, your essay Voices from the Field host. Welcome to this bonus episode of student affairs voices from the field. As we've returned home from the annual conference, Chris and I are thrilled to share with you your voices. We were able to connect with several dozen of you throughout the conference experience to get your thoughts on the 3 conference foci areas and learn from your experiences. Across the next 3 weeks, we're going to be dropping bonus episodes on Tuesdays to share with you your thoughts on these three areas. The first area was navigating the opportunities of uncertainty. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:53]: And the question we asked you was, what strategies have you employed to embrace uncertainty during your career, and how have they positively impacted your professional journey? Please enjoy. And if you were featured, thank you so much for sharing your voice with us. Acquanetta Pinkard [00:01:08]: I'm Acquanetta Pinkard. I am from Montgomery, Alabama. I work for Alabama State University, and I am a trio professional for 23 years. Wow. That's a loaded quest 1 is pivoting. Pivoting, making sure that I am, well versed in a lot of different areas. So I am equipped to pivot and not get stuck in any particular area. So making sure that I'm just able to move with the times is so and that's been very impactful and not allowing me to get in a position where I'm I'm stuck doing the same thing over and over again, so that I can be impactful to my students still and revel it. Taylor Cain [00:01:45]: I'm Taylor Cain. I work at the University of Georgia and serve as the director of engagement, leadership, and service there. I think with uncertainty, I try to exude patience, which for those who know me would probably be surprised by that. I wish I was more patient. But with uncertainty, I try to stay calm, rely on what I know to be true, and then try to be patient and trust the process, as cliche as that is, to see how things work out. Certainly, try and figure out how I can control things within my sphere of influence. But understanding I'm a part of a larger organization and to move something like that forward or trying to figure out what's gonna come next, no one can predict the future. So do the best with what you have, but just try and stay patient. Adrienne White [00:02:25]: I'm Dr. Adrienne White. I'm the director of student success coaching at George Mason University, and I use sheher pronouns. I actually think COVID was the most uncertain I think we've all ever been about our careers and the future and where we were all going with our lives. And something that I use with my team, that's when I started doing monthly 1 on 1 with every single person on my team. Because it gave them an opportunity to talk to me 1 on 1, talk to me about their concerns that they're having, and then gives me an opportunity to be able to alleviate some of those concerns or collectively come up with solutions to some of their concerns. And I think being as transparent as possible with the information that I've been given has really positively impacted my professional journey because I think it's forced me to be a more transparent leader, and it's also really made me think about how are the to the world events of today affecting my team and how we're supporting our students, which is our primary job. So it's really helped me rethink how I'm supporting my team through uncertain times. Susan Hua [00:03:31]: Hi. My name is Susan Hua. I use she/her pronouns, and I'm the director of diversity, equity, inclusion at the Community College of Aurora, which is an MSI HSI just outside of Denver, Colorado. The strategies that I've used to employ that I've employed to embrace uncertainty during my career is really making sure that I have a community of folks around me who are able to help me unpack and debrief what I'm going through. I found that having a network of friends and colleagues who have been really close in my journey has been really helpful in terms of understanding the challenges I'm going through and also offering strategies and offering support in times of uncertainty. Aileen Hentz [00:04:07]: My name is Aileen Hentz. I'm at the University of Maryland as the program director of academic and student services. I have embraced it fully. Many times, even now, I'm I'm 20 years into my career, I have stuck my foot in my mouth. So one thing that I have learned to do is try my hardest to think before speaking and to go with the flow and to be a little bit more thoughtful, and I think that might be some of the strategies. Stephen Rice [00:04:41]: Steven Rice, director of the Office of Community Expectations at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. Some strategies that I use to embrace uncertainty, 1, to recognize uncertainty does happen all the time. And so you can't really prepare for it, but you can also be ready for it. And so I do that is looking at the positivity of it, making sure that I create networks with different resources on campus, so when those uncertainties come, figure out strategic stakeholders that can utilize to create a plan to really understand how to approach this uncertainty. But also going back and looking at how we learn and grow as individuals and as professionals, and how we are able to impact our university community positively by utilizing these different uncertainties and making the learning outcomes from it. Amy Adam [00:05:22]: Hi. This is Amy Adam, and I am from the University of Missouri in Columbia. I have been a student services support manager for 20 years, serving graduate students. One of the big things about uncertainty in my career, I've seen a lot in the past 2 decades. We went through some budget cuts after a campus wide protest that affected our relationships with legislators. Those of us that served students on campus really held fast to our values and our goal to support students. So, really, we just did a lot of debriefing amongst staff as well as really making sure to reach out to our students to make sure that they knew that they were supported and can ask for anything, and we would either support them or get them to the right resource if they needed it. Stephanie Cochrane [00:06:17]: Hi. I'm Stephanie Cochrane. I'm the director of student services at Northeastern University in Toronto. I'm here for NASPA for just the Sunday pre conference around graduate students. I think the main strategy is a growth mindset. Really in Toronto and especially Northeastern, we're growing at a really rapid pace and so we're keeping up with that. We also have a lot of students who are coming to the country for the first time, so international students. And having that growth mindset means that we can create innovative programming, try to try things for the first time, experiment a lot with our programming, see what works, what doesn't work, and continuously change and adjust as we go. Amy Hecht [00:06:57]: Hi. My name is Amy Hecht. I'm the vice president for student affairs at Florida State University. I've been there 7 years now. The strategies I've employed to embrace uncertainty during my career has really been leaning on mentors using my network, really having conversations about what is happening, whether it's at my institution or across the country. I've also employed a leadership coach that's been really helpful in processing what's happening at work or what's happening in life, and that's really helped me navigate different moments throughout my career.  Shatera Davis [00:07:35]: Hi. My name is Shaterra Davis. I use she/her pronouns. I'm the director of student affairs at Northeastern in Seattle. Move with kindness and empathy has been one. I think it would be too simple to say treat people as how you want to be treated. I think it's more intentional than that, and so anytime I move careers, anytime that I support students, I always think about what would I have needed when I was a student, what did I get when I was a student, my why when I came into student affairs in higher education, and then giving myself grace and showing myself true kindness and empathy in those moments where it's tough is something that I just try to live by and move forward anytime, like, in my career and in my personal life. Andy Wiegert [00:08:17]: I'm Andy Wiegert, director of graduate student affairs, arts and sciences, Washington University in Saint Louis. Yeah, it's a good question. I think actually coming from a different industry before I came to higher ed, I've been in higher ed now for about 11 or 12 years. I was really used to a more hierarchical structure that had very clear trajectories, and I've really had to lean in to just living in the moment and sort of being present at what I'm doing now and just trusting that as I build a network that my own development will just happen in kind. Scott Peska [00:08:52]: Hi Scott Peska, Waubonsee Community College, Assistant Provost of Student Services. I think that the best part is trying to find ways to be resilient and one of the things that I learned early on was to always do things a little differently. So don't take the same route to work every day. Try to find new ways to just ensure that you're comfortable with change. And so we get into, like, a lot of ruts as human beings. And so we kinda get in the same patterns of behaviors. The more that we can kinda find ways to change it up so Tuesday, that's my secret. Tuesday is my day to do something different every week. It's a way to try to promote being flexible and that has helped me to process and be prepared for uncertainty when it comes up. Dilna Cama [00:09:31]: Dilna Cama. I am a director within student life at the Ohio State University, and I am part of the off campus and commuter knowledge community. So in terms of strategies that I've employed to embrace uncertainty during my career, Definitely keeping eye on what the final end goal is. It can be very difficult if you use COVID as a perfect example. It can be easy to get lost in the day to day barriers and challenges, but really making sure to keep focused on that end goal and be laser focused on that has really been helpful in my professional journey. Sabina Kapoor [00:10:08]: My name is Sabina Kapoor, and I'm currently a a full time doctoral student with Capella University. I spent over 20 years in higher education as a staff within student affairs, student success, and academic affairs. So as I've progressed in my career, I've focused more on staff so that they can better serve students. I wanna go in deep with that, so that's why I'm pursuing the doctorate in IO Psychology because I wanna look at the relationship between the organization and the employee. There was a I guess you could you know, how we have midlife crisis. I had a kind of midlife crisis in my career, and so it was like I hit a ceiling and just really couldn't go further. So I had been wanting to pursue my PhD, and I knew that that would help me go further. So that's what I did. And so I've been on that journey now for a few years. It's been rough, but I just keep thinking of the end goal. And also, in this time, while I'm not working full time, but I'm still staying connected in higher ed in different ways. So I'm a member of NASPA, and so a member as a student, so I'm paying out of pocket and it's a little cheaper than being a full time staff. I'm also a member of Coupa, which is basically HR in in university and colleges, and, membership is cheap to free, I think. And so it's pretty I I think as a doctoral student, I have a membership for free. And so the thing is that I'm trying to keep connections and stay involved in organizations so that I know what, you know, basically what national trends are, what are best practices, especially since the pandemic. That really changed a lot of how we view things. Carlie Weaver [00:11:48]: Hello. I am Carlie Weaver with Rose Hulman Institute of Technology. I'm a programs coordinator for the student activities in Union office. To have a very flexible mindset and being open to change and being able to be flexible when things change at the last minute. Roxanne Wright Watson [00:12:08]: Hi. My name is Roxanne Wright Watson. I'm from Lehigh Carbon Community College in Pennsylvania, and I'm happy to be here. So So I think most importantly for me, I am student centered. So in my career, I'm always wanting to do new things with my students in my in the classroom, faculty. So I wanna do new things in the classroom to help my students in more than just academically, but more so to help them in the world in their whole life in general. So I think that's an important thing, an important factor there for me. Carla Ortega Santori [00:12:48]: My name is Carla Ortega Santori. I work at Rice University. I am the strategic initiatives manager at the Door Institute For New Leaders at Rice University, and my job is really about helping students elevate their leadership capacity and to also elevate the capacity of all campuses to do really great leader developments in education. So I would say that most of my jobs have been really ambiguous, like, they start off as something, then they turn into this other great thing. I guess I've always been more comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty, so I guess knowing that it's not something permanent helps to sort of adapt and thinking of different avenues to accomplish one thing is also helpful when when you think about accomplishing a goal. Rachael Amaro [00:13:42]: I'm Rachel Amaro. I'm the admissions and academic advisor for the Department of Educational Leadership within the College of Education at Cal State Fullerton. I think that one of the main things has been reminding myself that I am one person and knowing what is in my control and what is not in my control. I think that's really hard in the profession in general. I think we all mostly are helpers, centered and ready for what my students need. And so I think that I can be re centered and ready for what my students need. And so I think that it's really helped me have an understanding of what it is I want to give to what I do and what I wanna get from what I do. I think that, again, the big takeaway for most people these days is what do I value about my time that's mine? And I think that I try to sort of encourage new staff members that I work with in this because I think a lot of them come in, again, wanting to go go go, which is great, but I also have to remind them, like, hey, like, you know, you have vacation days for a reason if you need it. And I feel like that's just something that's been really helpful to me to feel a little more like I have some balance to myself, and then it lends it to the work that I do. Christine Wilson [00:16:23]: I'm Christine Wilson. I am in student affairs at UCLA. I have two roles. 1 is as the executive director for academic partnerships and the other is the program director for our masters in student affairs program. There's been a tremendous amount of uncertainty because of the pandemic, but I think everyone has uncertainty in their career because you don't know what's next or how that's gonna happen. And my strategy has been to embrace uncertainty because if you don't, you'll be unhappy and to take opportunities that come up in order to grow and learn more about how the university works, not just student affairs, but how everything works together. And through taking on things I've been asked to do, I've sometimes been incredibly busy, but it has helped me be much more effective because I have worked in so many different areas of student affairs just temporarily leading a unit or being involved in a task force. Olivia Ruggieri [00:17:21]: Hi there. My name is Olivia Ruggieri. I'm the associate director of administration operations for Northeastern University Seattle campus. I grew up in Pennsylvania, went to 2013, but I've been working for the university since 2018. I would say just tapping into the network of professionals around me, having other folks review my work, and if I'm nervous about something, making sure that I'm not the only person, like, putting that message out into the world. And a lot of that came into place in during COVID 19 where we to be really clear with our messaging. Of course, there's a lot of uncertainty, and we wanted to make sure that our students got the right information the first time. Because things were changing so rapidly, we couldn't risk, like, confusion in the day to Christle Foster [00:18:11]: day. Hi. My name is Christle Foster, and I'm from Chesapeake College located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in Wymeals. Working during the pandemic was definitely some uncertainty, especially when we had to switch from being face to face to online. And in my role as an executive director of Trio Programs, it was especially difficult to recruit students online because many of them became disengaged. So definitely, that helped me to learn how to be adaptive as well as how to be responsive to change because that was a lot of change very quickly. We got notice, like, a couple of days that we were shutting down and I had to switch gears and help my staff switch gears in that time of uncertainty. Nathalie Waite Brown [00:18:49]: My name is Nathalie Waite Brown. I am the assistant dean of students and director for graduate student life at Stevens Institute of Technology located in Hoboken, New Jersey. I think what I've used that it's been the most successful is pause and then practice. Being able to take a a moment just to stop and think about what isn't working and what I want to work, and then putting those things into practice, and that may mean reconnecting with my mentor. It may mean taking a class. It may be connecting with students, but really just taking a moment to pause and reflect to be able to move forward and put what I need into practice. Dae'lyn Do [00:19:27]: My name is Dae'lyn Do. I use sheher pronouns, and I am the associate director for the Women in Science and Engineering Residence program at the University of Michigan, and I am coming into the position of the WISA KC co chair. For me, personally, I feel like relying on my people to get me through kind of the when I have questions about things or come across challenges, I just reach out to my colleagues or my mentors and help process through things. I think all of us have to work together in this field to really rely on each other to try to get through those challenges together and utilize each other's experiences and knowledge and just keep sharing that with each other. Natalie DeRosa [00:20:09]: So my name is Natalie DeRosa, and I'm from Lehigh Carbon Community College in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania. So I'll start by saying that I'm a young professional. I think the key is to keep calm, and I'm still learning, and that's why I'm here. That's why I'm at NASPA, is to learn how to do that and do it gracefully. Dan Volchek [00:20:38]: Dan Volchek, assistant dean of student success at Harvard Griffin Grad School of Arts and Sciences. In embracing uncertainty, I've looked at what other schools do and read publications about that and that has helped me manage the uncertainty that I faced during my career of which have been a number of pieces. But the biggest thing I think the strategy I've used is networking with people, utilizing my connections in NASPA to help me get through the uncertainty that I faced in my career and my professional journey. Vaughn Calhoun [00:21:12]: Vaughn Calhoun, Seton Hall University, hehim. Yeah. I think for me, really, it's just pausing and making sure that you can understand the the context of of what's happened to the best of your abilities and knowing that things can change, and they probably will change, but also knowing that you can only control the controllable. And for me, it's attitude and effort. And it's one thing I always share with my staff is we can control what we can control. Those things we can't control, we shouldn't spend too much time thinking about it and just do what we can. Darlene Robinson [00:21:43]: My name is Darlene Robinson. I'm the RISE gen 1 director for Seton Hall University. Some of the strategies that I've employed to embrace uncertainty during my career is more so looking inward, sitting with certain questions, ideas, and things that I, as a person, would like to have in a career, and just figuring out how that how what I have and what I need can impact those around me and best service students or coworkers that I come in contact with, and asking questions of those people as well to know what it is that they need and how I can provide it. Miguel Angel Hernandez [00:22:21]: Hello. My name is Miguel Angel Hernandez. I am the associate vice president and dean of students at San Francisco State University. I think one of the things that I do related to strategies is really ground myself and center myself in the idea and concept that a greater power is at work, that nothing whatever situation comes. I think the second piece that's important about that that brings me a lot of confidence is that I don't have to navigate uncertainty alone. Here at NASPA is a reminder that we are a part of an amazing professional association. Through relationship and thinking with partners and coming up with strategies or responses to the critical issues that are facing our profession today, I do believe that we are able to emerge better than we were yesterday. And so when I think about uncertainty, what brings me comfort is that I am only a text message, phone call, social media post away from an amazing network of thought partners, and that has guided me and continues to guide me. I think in terms of how this has positively impacted my professional journey is that it allows me not to feel like I have to know everything or be over prepared or have every aspect of a job description or an invitation under my belt because again, we are not in this alone. Together, we thrive. David Chao [00:23:47]: Hello. My name is David Chow. My pronouns are hehim. I serve as the director of IT for student affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, and I'm also the chair of the technology knowledge community. I think I spent a lot of time trying to plan ahead and anticipate. I think planning, while you can't plan for everything, it can certainly help and to help minimize variability whenever possible. It's just helped to mitigate that. But it's not always easy. And, unfortunately, as we just came off the pandemic, there are times when we just don't have a plan and we have to go with it, but I think planning in general still builds up a habit that is helpful even in times of uncertainty. Melinda Stoops [00:24:20]: Hi. I am Melinda Stoops. I serve as the associate vice president for student health and wellness at Boston College. In looking at my career in student affairs, which has been over 20 years at this point, there have certainly been many points of uncertainty. And even though I've employed different strategies at different points in times and in different situations, I really think the one constant point for me has really been connecting with others and opening up, even if just to one person, about something I'm dealing with where I feel uncertain. There's nothing better than having someone listen to you and support you, and I so much value my network both within student affairs and outside of student affairs. And I feel like regardless of the situation, that's always been something really helpful for me is to feel like someone's there supporting me even if they don't have the answers per se, but that I just have someone who is in my corner and cheering me on. And sometimes they provide great guidance as well. Derek Grubb [00:25:20]: Derek Grubb, Dean of Enrollment Management for Red Rocks Community College in Colorado. Biggest strategy I really just employ is strength in the knowledge of others. I've always believed building a team that has unique strengths, can lean on each other, and so you're able to be more agile and reflecting and promoting those strengths in each person. Matt Imboden [00:25:41]: My name is Matt Imboden. I use the hehim pronouns. I serve as the chief student services officer in the School of Business at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. And, for the past few years, I've also been chairing the administrators and graduate and professional student services knowledge community for NASPA. So I think I've found that during times of uncertainty, it's taken me a few knee scrapes along the way. But I think I've learned that at that time is kinda when your motivating values are kinda the clearest, and they sort of help to clarify things for you, renew your focus. And so during times of uncertainty or stress or strain, as I kinda come back to the things that one, got me engaged in the work I do in the 1st place. I mean, that, like, truly motivate you without kinda being distracted by all the tasks and initiatives and ideas that tend to pile up, but kind of focus on our students, what excites us about working for and with them, but then also increasingly to try to be a good leader for other staff and faculty colleagues to make a difference at our institutions. Evette Castillo Clark [00:26:39]: Evette Castillo Clark, vice president for student life and dean of students at Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon. I employ a strategy of being an iterative thinker. So sometimes what that means is working with your team, working with your staff to pilot things or think through things and outcomes or problems to a solution, throw it on the wall, see if it works, and it's okay if there's mistakes or if it's okay if it didn't work. You regroup, and you think through and toy through the uncertainty and the problem again. So I think one of the soft skills that it is really becoming the skills is really being flexible with your thinking, being understanding that sometimes that first go around, it's not gonna work, but you retool and you regroup and you go at it again, and you might actually have to convene different stakeholders to actually help you with the problem to address the uncertainty again. Madeline Frisk [00:27:33]: Hello. My name is Madeline Frisk. I work at Portland State University. I'm the coordinator of student government relations and advisor to Greek life. So I work with our student government, all of the committees and groups within that, as well as 4 strong and mighty small Greek life groups as well. I would say being a retired navy brat, navigating uncertainty was kinda a part of the career, we'll say. Navigating, moving every 3 years, I got pretty used to adapting, being the new kid, and I think that served me well now in the student affairs profession with all the ups and downs we can navigate with our career. Gene Zdziarski [00:28:08]: This is Gene Zdziarski. I'm vice president for student affairs at DePaul University. I think the biggest thing when there's times of uncertainty and questioning is you try to do your homework, you try to learn more about the situation, and I think what I found to be most helpful is utilizing my professional network, reaching out to my colleagues in the profession, getting their perspective, hearing what they've thought. This is clearly one of the places that, at least for me, NASPA has served as my professional home, and the people that I interact are really that support network that I use throughout my career to help guide me and make decisions not only about what's happening on my campus and how to better serve students, but also, how I might look at next steps or where my professional journey is going to go. Lyza Liriano [00:28:54]: Hello. My name is Lyza Liriano. I currently serve as an area coordinator at DePaul University in Housing and Residence Life. Originally, I am from Brooklyn, New York. I think that as there has been a lot of uncertainty within higher ed, especially post pandemic, I remember being a grad student not knowing if the program would continue in terms of my grad assistantship in housing and being very nervous about, is this the career that I wanna go to, even though it was something that I really love. I think what I started doing then and what I continue to do now is really just tapping in on my network, and really just having those people that I can go to to provide me with hope. So a lot of my old directors, old supervisors, and assistant directors have been really just a sounding board for me, providing words of encouragement and really just also finding people outside of higher education that I can just lean on when I need someone to talk work with that don't necessarily know what I'm talking about when I'm talking about work. Jackie Cetera [00:29:54]: Jackie Cetera. I use sheher pronouns, and I serve as the director of residential education at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. I would say that mentoring has been really impactful for me. Having different mentors throughout my career to help me through whatever my day to day or just life throws my way has really helped me. For individuals to provide the time and the space to talk through situations has really had a positive impact on me and has gotten me heavily Lisa Landreman [00:30:36]: My name is Lisa Landreman. I'm the vice president for student affairs at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. So I would say how I've prepared myself and established for uncertainty, maintaining flexibility and humility, I think I would start with and making sure that I'm able to be calm, cool, collected, that I am taking care of my own well-being. It starts there. And so having good balance, having good support, having my network in place for when things get hard. So when I'm can be centered and prepared, I'm better able to handle the uncertainty and the anxiousness and the crisis that comes. I think it has helped me be a stronger leader when I can model calmness and that I am not rattled with the ebb and flow of whether it's the world or our campus or student issues. I think being well read and well versed in issues in the field, so professional conferences, professional connections, institutes, networks has really helped me stay grounded in new ideas, creative solutions, best practice, collaboration. Lisa Landreman [00:31:42]: And so I feel like I have kept my toolkit and my skills honed. You know, that isn't just I get my master's degree and get my PhD and I'm done. That it is I am constantly looking for where do I need to learn more and who could I learn it from or where could I learn that. So I feel like even if I don't know something in the moment, I know who I could connect with, where to go, who might have it, what resource do I need to brush up on. I think both those personal qualities of being okay with me and then being well versed, but then also knowing that it's okay that we don't know in the instant how to respond, that to take a moment to find the answer, to listen to solutions. Also, I would say hiring a really strong team around me and then modeling for them to be that we are a learning organization, so so that we're gonna learn together, that we create opportunities in our weekly meetings or in our retreats and things, that we are I am modeling that kind of learning. We read articles together. We present to one another that we share learnings on a regular basis. And so that has served me to both cultivate stronger professionals in my organization, also motivation and enthusiasm about learning new things, and also just it has allowed us to be a team in these uncertain times. Right? That we can work together, that we might make some mistakes along the way, but we can quickly recover because we're a learning organization. Jackie Yun [00:33:03]: Hi. I'm Jackie Yun. I take the she series, and I serve as the executive director of the Harvard Griffin GSAS Student Center. I think that sometimes with uncertainty comes opportunity, and so some of the pivots in my career have actually turned out to be excellent silver linings and opportunities to specialize or to pivot, go to a different type of institution, work with different type of student, and so I've tried to see those as opportunities to learn. I think creating a learning mindset and just seeing everything as an opportunity to expand what we know keeps it interesting too. Leanna Fenneberg [00:33:37]: Hello. This is Leanna Feneberg. I'm the incoming chief student affairs officer at Duquesne University. I have had the experience of positions being eliminated and having to start a national job search and relocate with my family. And while those have been troubling times, I see them as wonderful opportunities to reflect on who I am and what I value and what I want in my next position and have always appreciated when one door closes, another one opens and seeing the opportunities that lie ahead. Jake Murphy [00:34:10]: Jake Murphy, I'm the director of prospective students services at OSU Institute of Technology, and I am over all recruitment and retention efforts at the university. So probably the biggest thing that I have put in place has been growth mindset. That's been a big one to be able to make sure that I am doing the best that I can and make sure that my team is in top form but also making sure that they look towards their professional goals because it is for recruitment, it's a stepping stone for a lot of people. Larry Pakowski [00:34:39]: Larry Pakolski. I'm the vice president for student engagement, inclusion, and success at Aims Community College in Greeley, Colorado. I think the biggest thing is looking at kind of what students need and and their voice in the equation, and then letting that be the north star, like students first always. And then we get into the budget and what's possible and how soon can we do that by really kind of keeping that north star of students first. Jillaine Zenkelberger [00:35:02]: Hi. I'm Dr. Jillaine Zenkelberger. I am the program coordinator over at Graduate Student Life at the University of Notre Dame. My professional career has been, even though somewhat short still has been kinda all over the place. I started as a social worker in foster care and now I'm here in grad services and I think uncertainty is just for me I utilize my uncertainty in my career path. I try to frame it as a benefit because I have a really diverse background with social work in my background, psychology, and really utilizing these skills to serve the community that I'm in now which is grad students. Also, my own journey as a grad student has really affected the way I work and how I interact with my students. Kristen Merchant [00:35:48]: Hi, everyone. I'm Kristen Merchant. I am from Rose Hulman Institute of Technology. I am the associate director of the Union and Student Activities Office there and also the director of our lead programs. Some strategies that I have employed to embrace uncertainty is I always like to come to everything with a plan. I always say plan for anything that could possibly happen, but then also being flexible enough to pivot for my Friends fans and be able to kind of adjust to the various situations. Joe Lizza [00:36:18]: My name is Dr. Joe Lizza. I'm the director of the Chamberlain Student Center and Campus Activities at Rowan University in New Jersey. I think early on, I tried to kinda shape some of the work that I do in really in my interests. So I really find stuff that I have true interest and then try to kinda shape that position or shape that professional development opportunity to kinda really be 100% fully engaged. And I've also always been open to opportunity even when it maybe there was uncertainty. So in the idea of not knowing what possibly I might do or my next step, I always kind of rose to the idea that, hey, let me try this new opportunity out. What's the worst that could happen? And it's ultimately kinda worked out for me. Joshua Allred [00:37:03]: My name is Joshua Allred. I work at Louisiana State University in the College of Agriculture as their manager of student services. I think when I think about uncertainty, I try to find in any job that I apply for or when I choose to stay where I'm at. Most recently, it's all been about the people that I work with. And so if I have strong leadership and I feel really comfortable with that leadership, that uncertainty feels a little bit more easy to navigate because I feel a lot of strength in that leadership. Kelley O'Neal [00:37:30]: Hello. Kelley O'Neal. I am at Texas A&M University, and I am the executive director of the Marylin Kent Burns Student Success Center. So one of the things I continue to do is try to be innovative and think what's next? What more can I do to support students and support student success? I don't wanna come in and do the same programs over and over again. I want to do my best to collaborate, whether it's with my partners in academic affairs or my partners in student affairs. But whenever uncertainty comes, then that says, how do I make sure that students are successful? Because in uncertainty, they wanna make sure that what you're doing is supporting student success. So that's what I do. Kelley O'Neal [00:38:19]: I would say recently, the strategies that I've employed is really falling to networking and mentorship. In early career, I don't think I valued those two pieces as much as I do in my later stages of my career, and finding mentors that can help me shape my career trajectory for the last part of my career, and taking advantage of things like the Institute For Aspiring VP's here at NASPA, as well as other maybe smaller regional conferences and conferences within the graduate school community to help create that next plan for my career, but definitely mentoring and networking. Katie Caponera [00:39:03]: I'm Katie Caponera, director of student life at Harvard Divinity School. I think the biggest approach to approaching uncertainty has just been to remain open to new ideas and new possibilities and never get too attached or set into what's traditional or what's always this is how we've always done it. That can be a challenge at a place that is as old and has as much history as Harvard and one of its affiliates, But being one of the smaller schools at Harvard, we've we have the ability to try some new approaches and some new directions with a little bit more fluidity given that we're kind of in the corner and small, but just not not being precious about how things have been done in the past, but really engaging, you know, what ideas the students are bringing to us because they're the best indicators of what they need on campus. Kathy Dilks [00:39:58]: My name is Kathy Dilks, and I am the director of graduate student and post doctoral affairs at the Icahn School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. I think the strategy that I always employ is staying connected with my colleagues and being open and honest with my peers. I rely on the people around me to help me navigate certain waters and certain uncertainties, and I rely on other people to help me gain valuable insight. Julie Payne Kirchmeier [00:40:30]: Julie Payne Kirchmeier, vice president for student success for the University of Indiana University. It's not really a system. It's a multi campus university, but we can say Indiana University System if that's easier for folks to kind of place the role. When I think about strategies employed to embrace uncertainty, you know, this may sound a little bit trite, maybe not. I just constantly important because, you know, there are elements of ethics and integrity that are woven into the how, but there are multiple ways to get there. And so when it feels uncertain or it feels strange, if I can go back to what it is at my core or as an organization, the mission or the purpose, I think it really helps to ground you and then you can move forward through that uncertainty. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:41:17]: This has been an episode of Student Affairs Voices from the Field, a podcast brought to you by NASPA. This show continues to be possible because you choose to listen to us. We are so grateful for your subscriptions and your downloads and your engagement with the content. If you'd like to reach the show, please email us at sa voices at naspa.org or find me on LinkedIn by searching for doctor Jill L. Creighton. We always welcome your feedback and your topic and guest suggestions. We'd love it if you take a moment to tell a colleague about the show and give us a 5 star rating on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening now. It really does help other student affairs professionals find the show and helps raise the show's profile within the larger podcasting community. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:41:58]: This episode was produced and hosted by doctor Jill Creighton, that's me, produced and audio engineered by doctor Chris Lewis. Special thanks to the University of Michigan Flint for your support as we create this project. Catch you next time.

Chandar Pattabhiram is the Board of Directors for: Donnelley Financial Solutions (NYSE:DFIN), Blueshift & Osaat.org - a non-profit transforming education in rural India. Chandar has previously been a CMO at Coupa and Marketo, and VP of Marketing at IBM Cast Iron. He was the former Strategic Advisor to Gainsight and Freshworks. He is LinkedIn Top 5 CMOs to follow for thought-leadership. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theindustryshow/support

Want to use AI to scale your procurement team?--- Before you negotiate next, LISTEN to this! Welcome to Deal Talk, the show where you learn the art and science of deal-making.This episode puts YOU in the driver's seat for your next negotiation.Michael van Keulen (MVK) shares valuable insights and practical advice on how to scale your procurement function with AI.Learn more about MVK: www.linkedin.com/in/michaelvankeulen--- Hosted by Shane Ray Martin, the Founder & CEO of Mediation Table and seasoned negotiator passionate about helping you harness the power of effective communication using AI.Follow Shane and get free negotiation tips every week: linkedin.com/in/shaneraymartinPowered by: Pactum AI - world leader in autmonous negotiations

In this episode, Natalie Benamou offers valuable insights on a topic that will benefit many women in sales who are looking to advance in their careers. Join us as we discuss the journey of women in leadership and how to empower and thrive in that journey. Natalie will also talk about the Blue Ocean strategy, which harnesses the brilliance of female talents and helps companies stand out. Tune in now to learn more. Natalie Benamou is the Founder and Chief Growth Officer of HerCsuite®, a women's leadership network that aims to promote and support women at every stage of their careers. Natalie is also an accomplished speaker and moderator and has delivered engaging leadership programs to companies such as Coupa, Horizon, and the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association (HBA) National Conference, among others. Her guiding principle in life is best summed up by a quote from Maya Angelou: "People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel." Learn more about Natalie by visiting her website and tuning in to her podcast. You can also follow and connect with her on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Kenny Rogers once had a popular song where he sand, “There's time enough for countin' when the dealin' is done.” Well, there was a lot of spending during Covid and now is the time to reflect on how we could have optimized that spend. In the studio today is Tom Voshell from Coupa.  He will bring a new perspective on how to efficiently allocate resources.  The focus is not on shopping for the best price; the emphasis is to admin that acquisition is a complex process and systems should be administered to make sure the spend is optimized.   The initial example he gave was the four billion dollars that is spend annually by the GSA on P cards.  When used properly, this spend can result in a 25% savings.  Combine that with properly administered points, this can allow an agency to have funds for much needed equipment or services.   Tom Voshell details the difference between a proactive and a reactive spend. In another example, if a person in Utah wanted to get landscaping, they may select a company.  Perhaps they did not know there was already in place a negotiated agreement between the federal government and a local landscaping company. There was no malice intended, but it is possible that the person making the decision had no idea about systems and procedures for getting a job done. Tom Voshell recommends an approach that is systematic and user friendly.  This is the way to optimize existing funds as well as leverage any benefits from using cards to purchase goods and services. Follow John Gilroy on Twitter @RayGilray Follow John Gilroy on LinkedIn  https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/ Listen to past episodes of Federal Tech Podcast  www.federaltechpodcast.com      

Over 90% of your buyers are not in-market today. So how do you make sure that you're at the top of their list whenever they decide it's time to buy?   Enter brand, the powerful component of every company looking to impact long-term growth and drive revenue. In this episode, we explore how CMOs are using brand as a strategic lever in their long-term revenue generation strategies, how they get brand buy-in across the org, and how they measure brand's impact on growth.   Learn why every brand moment is an acquisition moment in this conversation, guided by the exceptional Margaret Molloy of Siegel+Gale, our guest host, and our stellar lineup of CMOs: Kristin Russel of symplr Chandar Pattabhiram, Former of Coupa and Marketo  Rashmi Vittal, CMO of Productiv at the time of this interview  For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

This week on The Exit: Eric Marcoullier went through college wanting to be a DJ, but when he bought a copy of Wired magazine, a lightbulb went off for Eric, he knew that the internet was where he would make his money. Eric moved into online publishing and was part of the team to launch IGN, a video game and entertainment website which was where he was involved in his first big exit. They took the company public and then sold it for $650M to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. From there, Eric went on to co-found MyBlogLog, a social network for the blogger community that was based in part on interactions facilitated by a popular web widget that members would install on their blog. After just two years, MyBlogLog was acquired by Yahoo for $10M. Discover what Eric has learnt from two big exits, and how he's helping other founders achieve their dream exits. Since dropping out of college in 1995, Eric Marcoullier has co-founded a number of companies. Some were successful, some not so much. They include IGN (IPO), MyBlogLog (acquired by Yahoo!), Gnip (acquired by Twitter) and OneTrueFan (acquired by BigDoor). Over the years, Eric has invested in and advised many early-stage startups, both through a software development shop he co-owned and mentoring at Techstars, beginning with the very first program in 2007. Those startups include CitizenNet (acquired by Condé Nast), Foodzie (acquired by Joyus), Intense Debate (acquired by Automattic), Pana (acquired by Coupa), Zemanta (acquired by Outbrain) and Zynga (IPO). Currently, Eric is coaching first- and second-time startup founders who haven't yet established product or market fit. Coaching Site - www.marcoullier.com Coaching Blog - www.ObviousStartupAdvice.com Monthly CEO Dinner - www.ThunderviewCEODinners.com Flippa's First Access: https://flippa.com/exit For a Free Flippa Business Valuation: https://flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/valuation?buy_sell=exitpodcast -- The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You'll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

Priya Ramachandran, founder and managing partner at Foster Ventures, recounts her remarkable odyssey from the tech world in India to her venture capital journey in the heart of Silicon Valley. She candidly discusses her evolution as a VC, starting as an angel investor, and passionately elaborates on the core values and principles that underpin the foundation of Foster Ventures. Priya also expresses her enthusiasm for the imminent surge of innovation poised to emerge from the dynamic cross-border US-India startup ecosystem.In this episode, you'll learn:[2:42] The advantages and responsibilities of angel investing[9:25] Key considerations when choosing an investor in the pre-seed to seed stage[14:27] The path to achieving startup success: crafting a precise problem statement, building with integrity, and maintaining agility during implementation.[18:58] Founder's dilemma: balancing speed with the importance of doing things right[27:19] Fostering a robust US-India startup ecosystem will take true community buildingThe non-profit organization that Priya is passionate about: SaaSBOOMiAbout Priya RamachandranPriya Priya Ramachandran is the Founder and Managing Partner of Foster Ventures. As an Operator and a GTM expert, Priya works with cross-border companies and helps entrepreneurs with product market fit, international market entry advice and introductions. Before starting Foster Ventures, Priya was with BoldCap, BetterCloud, Coupa, Intel Security and LogiGear Corporation leading various strategic operational roles with a focus on Product Strategy, Customer Strategy & Adoption and Customer Success. Priya is also an active mentor at SaaSBOOMi with a focus on enabling and empowering cross-border founders.About Foster VenturesFoster Ventures is a Silicon Valley-based early-stage venture capital firm with a focus on B2B Enterprise SaaS. As an operator-led VC, Foster works with early-stage startups, supporting founders building global products. Portfolio companies include vitrina, rocketlane, atomicwork, lyric, SimpliContract among others.Subscribe to our podcast and stay tuned for our next episode.

Margaret Molloy is joined by Kristin Russel (CMO, symplr), Chandar Pattabhiram (CMO, Coupa), and Rashmi Vittal (Former CMO, (Productiv), for a conversation that explores connecting brand to revenue and how when brands and CMOs get it right, it has the potential to grow companies and careers.

Brought to you by Ezra—The leading full-body cancer screening company | Coda—Meet the evolution of docs | Attio—The powerful, flexible CRM for fast-growing startups—Geoff Charles is VP of Product at Ramp—the fastest-growing SaaS startup of all time, Fast Company's #1 Most Innovative Company in North America, and a company I believe we should all study for how they operate, execute, and hire. At Ramp, Geoff has led the product team from the early days, including the development and release of 60+ products and features in the past year alone. He has been building financial services for over a decade, and his interview in Lenny's Newsletter quickly became one of the most widely read newsletter issues of all time. In today's podcast, we will discuss:• How velocity is at the heart of Ramp's culture and success• How writing can unlock clarity, creativity, and rapid problem-solving• How to empower your product team through context sharing• How to practically approach problems from first principles• How Ramp approaches hiring in a unique way• Suggestions for breaking into the world of product managementListen now on Apple, Spotify, Google, Overcast, and YouTube.Find the transcript for this episode and all past episodes at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/episodes/. Today's transcript will be live by 8 a.m. PT.Where to find Geoff Charles:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/geoffintech• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffrey-charles/Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Geoff's background(04:49) An overview of Ramp(06:20) The importance of velocity at Ramp(08:50) Single-threaded goals and how to keep teams away from distractions(13:20) Setting lofty goals(15:17) How Ramp empowers teams(17:37) How Geoff's management style has evolved at Ramp(19:55) The product design process at Ramp(21:19) Ramp's system for sharing feedback(23:07) How Ramp handles bug fixes (24:15) Advice for PMs who want to move faster(29:29) Why velocity and impact can help protect against burnout(32:33) Planning vs. doing(37:54) Ramp's strategy documents (40:55) Finding your unique positioning(42:46) OKRs(44:53) The importance of first-principle thinking(48:53) How to use writing to think through problems (51:46) How Geoff carves out time for deep work(54:05) How Geoff manages tasks and stays organized(57:15) Why other roles share the PM load at Ramp(1:00:30) PM responsibilities at Ramp(1:01:46) Identifying A+ talent(1:06:02) The skills Ramp looks for when hiring(1:07:33) Advice for people wanting to break into product management (1:10:37) Lightning roundReferenced:• How Ramp builds product: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-ramp-builds-product• Bill: https://www.bill.com/• Expensify: https://www.expensify.com/• Concur: https://www.concur.com/• Coupa: https://www.coupa.com/• Nicole Forsgren on Lenny's Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-measure-and-improve-developer-productivity-nicole-forsgren-microsoft-research-github-goo/• Sheryl Sandberg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheryl-sandberg-5126652/• Getting Things Done: https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0143126563• When Breath Becomes Air: https://www.amazon.com/When-Breath-Becomes-Paul-Kalanithi/dp/081298840X• The Bear on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/series/the-bear-05eb6a8e-90ed-4947-8c0b-e6536cbddd5f• Whoop: https://www.whoop.com/Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

The combined challenges of the global economy and digital competition are very real for most executive leadership teams. While many of the decisions they must make are focused on short term agility and operational resilience, they can't allow themselves to lose sight of the investments required to fuel longer term growth. In this episode, based on an AOP Live session, Kelly Barner and Philip Ideson are joined by Yatin Anand, Principal and Procurement Leader at KPMG, and Michael van Keulen (“MVK”), Chief Procurement Officer at Coupa. They address how procurement can increase overall business resilience for the sake of short term agility and long term growth. Yatin and MVK answer questions about: How CEOs and leadership teams are approaching the challenges and opportunities they face today and the steps they are taking to prepare for the future Ways to enable companies to make better decisions across a range of strategic objectives by achieving better control over their spend  Where ESG targets fit into supply chain programs that are constantly being forced to emphasize risk and cost  

Orlando Bravo is a Founder and Managing Partner of Thoma Bravo. He led Thoma Bravo's early entry into software buyouts and built the firm into one of the top private equity firms in the world. Today, Orlando directs the firm's strategy and investment decisions. Orlando has overseen over 420 software acquisitions conducted by the firm, representing more than $235 billion in transaction value. Forbes named him "Wall Street's best dealmaker" in 2019, and he was dubbed "Private equity's king of SaaS" by the Financial Times in 2021. In Today's Episode with Orlando Bravo We Discuss: 1.) From Puerto Rico Roots to Wall Street's Best Dealmaker: How did Orlando come to co-found Thoma Bravo? What was that a-ha moment for him? Orlando mentioned 2 mentors that shaped how he thinks, who were they? What are his single biggest lessons from those mentors? What does Orlando know now that he wishes he had known when he started his career? Why does Orlando disagree with setting timelines in life? Why does it not help? 2.) The Secret to Success in Value Investing: What is good value investing today? What is it not? What three things does Orlando look for when doing a deal and acquiring a company? Why is every company in the world worth its future cash flows? How important is price today? How does Orlando reflect on his own price sensitivity? Many suggest Coupa and Anaplan were extremely expensive. How does Orlando respond and defend the prices he paid for companies in 2020-2022? 3.) WTF is Happening In Markets Today: How does Orlando reflect on where the market is today? Is this the new normal? How does Orlando expect the market to change over the next 12 months? Why does Orlando believe that the best companies win in the worst times? Is this the result of quantitative easing on behalf of central banks? Who is to blame? How does Orlando balance the mindset of his team between risk on and taking advantage of lower prices in market but also not catching a falling knife? 4.) Orlando Bravo: The Leader, Father and Husband: What is Orlando's biggest fear in investing? How has this changed over time? How does Orlando reflect on his own relationship to money today? How has that changed? What are Orlando's biggest parenting lessons from his mother? Why does Orlando believe that for most people, their late twenties are their toughest? How does Orlando instill the same drive and ambition in his children that he had, despite very different financial profiles growing up? How does Orlando maintain being at the top of his game in his profession but also being a great husband? What is the secret to a happy marriage? Items Mentioned in Today's Episode: Orlando's Fave Book: The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

(0:00) Jason's new gig! (1:05) Twitter's new privacy rules, notable suspension, doxing dynamics (20:48) Nuclear fusion breakthrough and geopolitical ramifications (42:58) Jason and Sacks's big night (51:11) State of the markets: Coupa acquired by Thoma Bravo, startups at all stages seeing heavy valuation reductions, what LPs are thinking (1:22:08) TV catch up, worst person in tech bracket Follow the besties: https://twitter.com/chamath https://linktr.ee/calacanis https://twitter.com/DavidSacks https://twitter.com/friedberg Follow the pod: https://twitter.com/theallinpod https://linktr.ee/allinpodcast Intro Music Credit: https://rb.gy/tppkzl https://twitter.com/yung_spielburg Intro Video Credit: https://twitter.com/TheZachEffect Referenced in the show: https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/41483/checkoutcom-chalks-70-off-valuation https://twitter.com/Cernovich/status/1602457619431493634 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1603190155107794944 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Ignition_Facility https://www.ft.com/content/4b6f0fab-66ef-4e33-adec-cfc345589dc7 https://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsfusion-industry-survey-shows-significant-increase-in-private-investment-9860867 https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/thoma-bravo-buy-coupa-software-615-billion-2022-12-12 https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/41483/checkoutcom-chalks-70-off-valuation

FTX's (FTT-USD) Bankman-Fried arrested in Bahamas, country says. Has inflation peaked? What to watch in today's CPI report. IBM (IBM) and Rapidus join hands to build semiconductor technology and ecosystem in Japan.

As disruptive events persist, buying organizations must ensure that pricing, supply, and capacity remain stable across the supply chain. This requires sourcing teams to drive greater throughput and decision making under increased workload and event complexity, creating their toughest state of play in many years.Fortunately, sourcing leaders are uniquely positioned to create new sources of value by combating persistent market pressures and building resilience amidst volatility.In this episode, created in collaboration with a live Supply Chain Now audience, co-hosts Scott Luton and Greg White are joined by Ahmad Jiwani, Director, Product & Segment Marketing at Coupa, to discuss:• How sourcing and procurement professionals are being asked to lead during these challenging economic times• How a well-run strategic sourcing program can help companies build more agile supply chains• Ways that leading sourcing programs are leaning on optimization to keep costs low while also advancing ESG program goals such as reduced carbon emissionsAdditional Links & Resources:Learn more about Supply Chain Now: https://supplychainnow.comCheck out our new Supply Chain Now Media Kit: https://bit.ly/3zKRLyLSubscribe to Supply Chain Now and all other Supply Chain Now programs: https://supplychainnow.com/subscribeLeveraging Logistics and Supply Chain for Ukraine: https://vectorgl.com/stand-with-ukraine/2022 Q3 U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index: https://freight.usbank.comWEBINAR- Supply Chain Planning: Growing your Process Maturity in 2023: https://bit.ly/3T9esEjThis episode is hosted by Scott Luton and Greg White. For additional information, please visit our dedicated show page at: https://supplychainnow.com/raising-bar-value-sourcing-respond-dynamic-markets-1047